Find a missing animal from the air, day or night.
We start where it was last seen and fly outward, with a thermal camera that picks up body heat. Once we've confirmed a sighting, we call you, then text a map link to where it is.
Not flying yet. Opening for commercial work in the first quarter of 2027.
Before and after a search
What helps a search
Where you can, keep people and other animals out of the area while we fly. Neighbors searching on foot show up as heat and make yours harder to pick out.
Once we're open, we drive out from Ghent, in Columbia County. Inside 50 miles we can realistically come the same day. Out to 100 miles we still fly searches, but the drive is longer, so calling sooner matters more. The coverage map shows which ring your county is in.
What you get
| Result | Where it is (GPS) and when we saw it, and a photo when we have one. Afterwards, a record of the search with the photos of where we found it. |
| How you hear | A phone call the moment we have it, then a text with a map link to where the animal is, and a photo when we have one to send. Nothing about a missing animal waits for a report. |
| If we don't find it | We tell you on the call, and the search's record says so and shows where we searched |
| Agreeing it | A search can start on what we agree by phone, with the quote in writing straight after |
| Where | Any search area we're allowed to fly, day or night. Under trees it depends on the cover. |
| Cameras | Wide, zoom and 640×512 thermal, matched to the time of day |
| Drone | The drone from a dock on your property if there's one, or one we bring out and launch on site, whichever gets in the air fastest |
Thermal finds what a flashlight walks past
It sees body heat
An animal bedded down in brush or along a tree line is easy to miss by eye. On thermal it usually stands out.
We check before we call
Deer, other wildlife and warm machinery show up as heat too. We look at each one before we call you, so you don't drive out to a false alarm.
Animals we're set up to find
Lost farm animals, on your ground or the ground around it.
They don't all read the same on thermal
Warm and usually out in the open.
When they're covered in mud from wallowing, which hides the heat. A clean pig is easier.
Fleece insulates them, so often only the face, ears and legs show.
None of that rules a search out. It changes how long it takes and how close we fly. We'll tell you what to expect for your animal before we launch.
What limits a search
What thermal can't do
Under trees it depends. A thermal camera reads the surface it is looking at, so what it finds comes down to what is between it and the animal.
| Tree cover | It can't see through a closed canopy in full leaf. An animal at the edge of the woods, in a gap, or under bare branches usually shows. |
| Under a roof | It can't see through a roof. An animal inside a barn or a run-in shed isn't in the frame. |
| Warm ground | It can't pick a warm animal out of warm ground. On a hot, sunny afternoon the contrast drops, which is why dawn, dusk and after dark are best. |
If yours has gone into the woods, say so when you call and we'll tell you what a search there can and can't do.
Where we're allowed to fly
| Open pasture | Usually straightforward. |
| Near houses or a road | FAA rules limit flying over people. |
| Near an airport | Some airspace needs permission before we can take off. |
We check the airspace before we say yes, and we won't fly where we aren't allowed, even in an emergency. If your animal has gone somewhere we can't fly, we'll tell you on the call.