Give the dog a drone: How eye in the sky helped locate on-the-run Lanarkshire pet

A couple have been reunited with their dog after it spent four days on the run – thanks to pet detectives using a high-tech drone.

June and David Hamilton welcomed Jack Russell Rana into their home in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, after she was rescued by a charity from a life as a street dog in Spain. The couple had Rana for less than two hours before she escaped from their garden through a side gate.

The 18-month-old managed to evade an army of volunteers and two specialist pet detective charities for four days before finally being spotted by a drone operated by Drone SAR For Lost Dogs UK, whose volunteers had responded to the couple’s social media appeal.

Rana was spotted near Bothwell Castle Golf Club but by the time June and David arrived, she had vanished again.

Drone pilot Stuart Glen managed to find the runaway canine hiding in thick bushes and June spent an hour coaxing her out.

David Hamilton said: “The response from the community has been overwhelming and we would like to thank everyone who gave up their time to help.

“We’re incredibly grateful to Stuart from Drone SAR, who spent hours looking for Rana from the air. Without his drone scouring the landscape we might never have found her.”