DJI Drones Find Missing Dogs Alive in Arctic Cold

When the temperature drops below zero and the wind starts biting like a pack of wolves, hope can feel very small.

That is exactly where Ella and Bebe’s family found themselves.

The two Boxers slipped out during a brutal Arctic blast that swept across Northeast Ohio. Temperatures plunged to negative 3 degrees. Snow piled up to two feet deep. The woods turned into a frozen maze. And the clock started ticking.

For pet owners, those first hours are a storm of questions. Are they cold? Are they hurt? Are they alone?

Josh Nichols and Zach Dzurinda from Drone Animal Rescue in Mahoning County answered the call. While most people were trying to stay warm indoors, they were prepping batteries, calibrating sensors, and launching drones into a sky that felt like glass, as FOX8 News reports.

“You expect the worst,” Nichols said. “But we always tell people, miracles do happen.”

A Heat Signature in a Frozen World

For four long hours, the team scanned wooded areas near Western Pennsylvania. From hundreds of feet above ground, their enterprise drones sliced across the treeline, searching for something most eyes would miss.

Then, a flicker.

Movement.

A thermal signature glowing against a white and lifeless landscape.

“They were in the middle of the woods, keeping each other warm,” Nichols said.

Curled together in deep snow, Ella and Bebe had done the one thing that saved them. They stayed close. They waited. They survived.

Their paws were injured from the cold, but they were alive.

The rescue was powered by advanced drone technology including 360 cameras, GPS precision, and high resolution thermal imaging.

The team flies the DJI Matrice 30 and the DJI Matrice 4TD, both enterprise level thermal platforms built for serious search and rescue missions. These are not hobby drones. These are flying command centers, designed to detect tiny heat signatures in massive, unforgiving terrain.

“Just the incredible accuracy,” Dzurinda said. “We can be several hundred feet up in the air and zoom down and see something as small as a bird.”

In this case, it was two dogs refusing to give up.

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More Than Drones. It’s About Family.

Dzurinda works in law enforcement. Nichols is a former air traffic controller. Their backgrounds read like a checklist for precision and calm under pressure.

But what drives them is not just technology.

It is the reunion.

They have rescued more than 50 pets so far. One of them was Honey, a 3 year old dog who ran off after her owner, Jennifer Sharpe, was involved in a serious car accident.

“I didn’t think I was going to get her back,” Sharpe said through tears. “She’s my best friend.”

Honey ran across Interstate 680 in Mahoning County, narrowly avoiding traffic, before disappearing into wooded areas. The drone team tracked her for hours from the air, watching her movements in real time through thermal imaging.

Then came the moment that makes all the cold nights worth it.

Using live aerial guidance, they directed Jennifer step by step through the woods until she reached the exact location.

Honey ended up back in her arms.

“It’s very rewarding,” Dzurinda said. “Not only are you saving this animal from suffering, but the joy you bring to their families.”

If you have ever loved a pet, you understand. They are not property. They are routine, comfort, personality, and unconditional loyalty wrapped in fur.

Losing them feels like losing a piece of your home.

Fighting Scams With Transparency

Drone Animal Rescue is also tackling another growing problem: scams targeting desperate pet owners.

Nichols and Dzurinda created the first free interactive website and map that connects owners directly with vetted, licensed thermal drone pilots.

“They’ll ask them for money, and they send the money, and they’ll never send a pilot,” Nichols said.

The platform now includes over 200 trusted pilots across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Pet owners can search an interactive map, find qualified operators near them, and contact them directly. Pilots set their own pricing, typically ranging from $50 to $1,000. Some nonprofit groups offer services at no charge and accept donations to support their missions.

Drone Animal Rescue is a for profit company, and it is transparent about that. Funds help maintain the platform, verify pilots, improve safety standards, support real search operations, and sponsor limited free or reduced cost searches for families in urgent situations.

They are also training more professional drone pilots, expanding what they hope becomes a global network of thermal search specialists.

“We’re trying to make this a global operation,” Nichols said.

For pet owners watching the snow fall outside and fearing the worst, that global map represents something powerful.

It represents a chance.

DroneXL’s Take

Technology often gets criticized for disconnecting us, but this story flips that narrative. Enterprise drones like the DJI Matrice 30 and Matrice 4TD are proving that thermal imaging and precision flight are not just tools for industry or public safety. They are lifelines for families.

When two dogs survive days in subzero temperatures because a drone pilot spotted a faint heat signature in a frozen forest, it reminds us that innovation is not just about specs and sensors.

It is about bringing Ella and Bebe home.

And for any pet owner reading this, that is everything.

Photo credit: Drone Animal Rescue