A man used his drone to help find and return more than 1,400 lost dogs to their owners

• A former police officer in England started a charity that uses drones to find missing pets.
• Phil James said the charity "exploded" in popularity after he found his first dog.

Drone to Home, a non-profit in Nottingham, England, uses drones to scour miles of land in search of people's lost dogs, hoping to reunite them with their owners.

Phil James, a former police officer who runs the dog search and rescue, told the BBC that the operation "exploded" in popularity after he used his drone to find a missing springer spaniel that had been lost for around three days in Calverton.

"We always try to go to every dog that's missing, if we can, in the East Midlands," James told the outlet. "It's the challenge and the search, I love that."

James said the charity has "grown into something I never dreamed it would" and that he hopes to raise enough money to buy a thermal drone and put a drone in every county to "help as many dog owners as possible."

The charity has helped at least 1,400 dog owners reunite with their pets over the past three years, the BBC reported.

According to the Drone to Homes website, James started the business on his own, but created a WhatsApp group message for volunteers to join in 2021 as the charity grew and outpaced his ability to search for dogs on his own. The charity also offers courses on how to use drones, the site says.

Chanelle Storer, whose dog, Drizzy, was missing for five days, said in a testimonial that it was "only from the help of Drone to Home" that she was able to find her.

Storer wrote that when she contacted the charity when her dog went missing, James used his drone to scout the nearby area and "hammered social media with Drizzy's picture" for the next six days. A family friend told Storer that they had seen a dog that looked like Drizzy near the construction site, so she went to check for herself and found her pet with a wound on her neck, she said.

"We can't thank Phil enough for everything he has done for us and how much he does for the community with this amazing Charity, we need more Phil James' in this world," Storer wrote.

In another testimonial, Shannon said her family's spaniel, Carly, was missing for three days, and that James kept their partner, who had to work during the day, updated and "reassured."

When James found the dog, Shannon wrote, he "kept Carly safe and warm and gave her some food while he waited for me to get to where she was found."

"He gained her trust in order to get her on a lead and she seemed so relieved that she was found! I can honestly say if your dog is missing Phil is your guy," Shannon wrote.