Volunteers Find Lost Dachshund After Motorway Escape

When two-year-old Mabel slipped her collar at a motorway rest stop and bolted toward speeding traffic, her owner Lucy Rogers thought she'd lost her forever. The terrified dachshund disappeared into the chaos of the M4, leaving Rogers and her partner Jordan Goss devastated during what should have been an exciting move to their new Somerset home.

Goss chased Mabel along the hard shoulder as concerned drivers pulled over to help. But the frightened pup, in full flight mode, dodged everyone and vanished into the countryside near Leigh Delamare services.

That's when strangers became heroes. The couple turned to DroneSAR for Lost Dogs, a volunteer charity that uses thermal imaging technology to find missing pets. Through Friday night and into Saturday morning, volunteer pilots flew drones over fields and hedgerows, searching for any sign of heat that could be Mabel.

The tiny dog was finally spotted Saturday morning near a livery yard in Kington St Michael, north of Chippenham. But spotting her and catching her were two different challenges.

Volunteer Caroline Coward guided Rogers by phone as she crossed a waterlogged field toward Mabel's hiding spot in a hedgerow. Rogers got down on the ground and whispered Mabel's favorite words. "Would you like some breakfast?"

Mabel ran straight past the chicken Rogers offered and jumped into her arms, licking her face. After 36 hours of fear and searching, the reunion was complete.

Sunny's Take

This story reminds us that compassion doesn't need an invitation. Complete strangers stopped their cars on a busy motorway to help catch a scared dog. Volunteer pilots gave up their entire night to search fields in the dark. Coward stayed on the phone with Rogers, guiding her step by step through muddy terrain.

Rogers called it "literally a miracle," but miracles often look like ordinary people choosing to care. Coward said the pressure felt intense because they knew how much danger Mabel faced near major roads, but that's exactly why they kept searching.

For Coward and the DroneSAR team, moments like this make countless hours of training and cold nights in fields worthwhile. They turn technology into hope and give families back what they thought they'd lost forever.

Mabel is home safe, curled up in her new house in Highbridge. And somewhere in Wiltshire, volunteers are charging their drones, ready for the next family who needs them.