Police Officer Uses a Drone to Find Lost Pets: His Story

Police Sgt. Mike Coyne loves flying his department’s drone, helping with surveillance and reconstructing accidents. And when he’s off-duty, he flies a drone of his own, helping families find their lost fur-friends.

High-Flying Hero

Mike Coyne stood outside a Putnam County, New York, forest gripping his thermal drone’s controller, hoping to spot a missing dog, an Australian shepherd named Finnie. 

Five years ago, the veteran police sergeant was trained to operate his department’s new drone. He used the equipment to assist in surveillance and accident reconstructions. Wanting to perfect his skills, Mike purchased a starter drone of his own to practice off-duty. 

The technology improved and dropped in price, and last year, he purchased a new, state-of-the-art model with high-tech thermal sensors and set up a company, HeatSeekerDrones.com, to do roofing and solar inspections and help with deer population counts.

Then one day, Mike caught a post on a local Facebook group from his neighbor, Lynne Mitchell, whose daughter’s mini Australian shepherd had escaped from the dog walker. Lynne and her own dog, Pippa, had searched for days. She’d even hired a dog tracker to help, but despite numerous sightings, Finnie was still missing. 

I bet I can find him with my drone, Mike messaged Lynne. And he did. His drone eventually found Finnie in a swamp.

Drone video of Finnie’s rescue went viral, and soon others were reaching out to Mike for help finding their own lost pets. 

“My dog ran off, and she’s still on her leash,” one panicked woman texted Mike, so at the end of his shift, he fetched his drone and began scanning the woods from above.

It only took Mike a few minutes to spot the wayward pooch. Zooming in, he noticed the leash was tangled around a tree. She never would have made it home, Mike shuddered to think, and when the woman offered a reward he refused. “The happy look on your face is reward enough for me.”

More recently, when Raile Hahn and his girlfriend, Alissa Lewis, went out for pizza their boxer/pit bull mix, Levi, took advantage of a faulty lock to escape through the back door. The couple posted on Facebook and for three days searched their Port Jervis neighborhood and nearby mountain trails. Then they called Mike.

Mike flew his drone 350 feet above the trees, and it wasn’t long before he gave the couple a happy thumbs-up.

Over the past year, Mike has helped find over 50 lost dogs across New York State and well into Connecticut. “A dog becomes a member of the family, so when they go missing, it’s like you’re losing one of your children,” he says. “I became a police officer to help people. Now I get to help their best friends too.” 

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