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Firefighters use drone to rescue pup stranded on icy swamp in Ohio

Posted at 10:32 AM, Feb 20, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-20 10:32:26-05

CHIPPEWA TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- A massive team effort along with a drone helped find and rescue a family’s lost dog that somehow became stranded in the middle of a massive, icy swamp in Wayne County.

The dog’s name is Mox. The family adopted the 30-pound English setter, fox terrier mix pup last year and was preparing to celebrate his first birthday when he disappeared from their backyard Thursday night.

They began posting his picture on Facebook and three days later, a neighbor spotted Mox on the ice Sunday, according to WJW.

“I’m thinking there’s just no hope, like there’s no way. He was just stuck, he couldn’t get around, he was freezing, he was fatigued, was exhausted,” said Beth, the dogs owner who asked to only have her first named used.

Beth tried but was unable to reach the clearly fatigued dog. She said he was through one swamp, across the railroad tracks and stranded in another icy swamp.

“My heart sank,” Beth said, “I couldn’t get to him.”

She called the Chippewa Township Fire Department and a team of firefighters wearing special extreme cold water rescue suits responded with a boat. They were having trouble tracking the small dog because his black coat blended in with the brush.

“It was too murky,” Beth said, “so then they called in the drone.”

Cliff Franks, owner of Buckeye Drone, responded and began tracking Mox from high above the search area. That helped firefighters zero in on his location, but the now frightened dog kept fleeing and hiding.

Several hours after it all started, the firefighters saved Mox and returned him to Beth, her husband and their three daughters.

“We’re so thankful to the firefighters, some of them were off their shift and they stayed, and also Buckeye Drone for being there and definitely thankful to all the people who prayed,” said Beth, who stopped by the fire station Tuesday with her girls to thank the firefighters in person.

Mox is doing incredibly well, and suffered only some minor cuts and scratches . A veterinarian put him on antibiotics and said he should make a full recovery.

He was even able to enjoy a special belated birthday cupcake.

“I feel like God orchestrated every single bit of this story,” Beth said. “All he (Mox) needed to do was trust the firefighters. I sat there and thought what a good picture of life, sometimes we are in so much pain and all we need to do is trust.”