Colorado police reunited a family with its lost golden retriever after discovering the animal by chance during a drone training session Sunday.
Farah, who had run away following a car crash three months earlier, was found by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office in the area she was last seen in Colorado Springs.
Police were able to find Farah quickly because of the drone’s infrared camera, the sheriff’s office said on Facebook. ‘A short time later, Farah was reunited with her family.
‘She is safely on her way home, and the (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) team was able to practice some very valuable search-and-rescue techniques with our drone.’
Because one veterinarian believes she was hit by a car during her disappearance, Farah, who now weighs half her previous body weight, will require one leg to be amputated.
Golden retriever Farah (pictured) was discovered by Fremont County police by chance during a drone training session
Taylor Salazar, Farah’s owner, reunited with her dog three months after Farah ran from a car crash
Salazar said her family adopted Farah just after her late husband, Fili, was diagnosed with terminal cancer: ‘He was in love with her the minute he saw her’
Three months before her rescue, Farah had run away from a car crash involving her owner’s father.
The driver had suffered a seizure while driving, crashing into a ‘rural and not well-lit area,’ according to CBS News.
Farah then fled the scene.
Farah’s owner, Taylor Salazar, told KRDO that the family had adopted the golden retriever ‘to brighten up our household’ after Salazar’s late husband, Fili, was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
A dispatcher with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office was aware of Farah’s story and notified Salazar of the department’s drone training session, which would be held in the area where Farah was last seen
According to reports, Farah was caught on the drone’s infrared camera almost immediately after the training session began
Farah as seen by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office’s drone
Salazar and members of the sheriff’s office’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems team went to Farah, who was located on the opposite side of a barbed-wire fence, and Salazar lured her in with a piece of chicken
The training session proved valuable for the sheriff’s office: ‘She is safely on her way home, and the (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) team was able to practice some very valuable search-and-rescue techniques with our drone’
Because of injuries sustained during her disappearance, Farah, who now weighs half her previous body weight, will require one of her legs to be amputated
‘He was in love with her the minute he saw her,’ Taylor said.
Several photos had been taken of Farah in the months following her disappearance, though no local was able to rescue her.
‘If they got too close, she’d run away and she knew where to go,’ Salazar said. ‘She was hiding.’
Salazar added that she had seen surveillance footage of Farah drinking water at a nearby farm close to the area she was rescued.
One dispatcher at the sheriff’s office knew of Farah’s story and invited Salazar to the drone training session with hopes of rescuing the dog.
Farah was spotted with the cameras before Salazar approached the area and left a piece of chicken on the ground.
The golden retriever was then seen on the opposite side of a barbed-wire fence.
‘She stuck her head through the barbed-wire fence and then the next minute she’s laying in my lap, and I was like, ‘I got her,” Salazar said.