Dayslong search for dog gets assist from drone
Drones have gotten a lot of bad press over the past few weeks, but don’t malign them around Martee Levi. Earlier this month, a drone helped find her Boston terrier, Gracie, after the dog spent several freezing nights lost in the woods.
Levi’s previous Boston terrier, Buster — the namesake of Buster Levi Gallery on Main Street in Cold Spring — died three years ago. Gracie arrived in Philipstown on Nov. 5; the 3-year-old was adopted from a breeder in Oregon.
For Gracie, Levi’s home and studio on Jaycox Road “was a whole new world,” Levi says. But the terrier’s curiosity nearly led to her demise.
Around dusk on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Levi opened her front door to retrieve a package; Gracie bolted past her and disappeared into the woods.
The effort to find Gracie is a tale of community, hope and despair, technology and canine camaraderie.
Saturday (Nov. 30)
Levi and her resident studio assistant, Meghan Sabas, immediately run to Jaycox Road, but Gracie is long gone. It’s one of the first cold nights of the season.
Sabas has a first date planned for the evening. She cancels it. The women search the road, with Sabas on foot and Levi driving slowly. Neighbors join the effort, but at 11 p.m., the searchers give up for the night. Sabas and Levi’s friend, Grace Kennedy, post missing dog alerts on social media.
Sunday (Dec. 1)
The next day, “people started coming to help; it was amazing,” Levi says. “Many were strangers.”
Sabas contacts Michael Coyne, who operates Heat Seeker Drone Services in Carmel. When he first bought his drone, Coyne charged a fee to help find lost pets to recoup the cost, but it’s paid off, so he works for donations. He’s found nearly 100 pets.
Sabas’s dog, Amy, an Australian cattle dog known as a blue heeler, joins the search. Amy and Gracie played together and developed a bond. Amy picks up Gracie’s scent from her toys and bedding.
After his afternoon shift with the Scarsdale Police Department, Coyne arrives close to midnight. He conducts an aerial search but finds no trace of Gracie.
Monday (Dec. 2)
A hunter tells Karen Jackson, Philipstown’s animal control officer, that he saw a dog fitting Gracie’s description on Sunday near Grey Rock Road off Route 301. Neighbors and social media responders are joined by Levi’s son and daughter-in-law. Coyne is unable to do a drone search that night.
Tuesday (Dec. 3)
The search continues. Levi and Sabas fear that if Gracie is alive, she is suffering. The nights have gotten even colder. Coyne says he can return that night, but by 6 p.m., Levi has given up. “We’re not going to find her — forget it,” she says.
At 7:30 p.m., Coyne texts to say he is at Country Hill Lane, near where the hunter spotted Gracie. His drone is aloft, using thermal imaging, which captures the heat of warm-blooded animals, including humans and dogs. During the day, animals are difficult to discern because the sun warms the landscape, objects and buildings.
Fifteen minutes later, Coyne texts again. He has spotted Gracie, deep in a wooded marsh. The women are heartened but cautious. After spending three nights in freezing weather, they assume that the 15-pound dog is barely alive.
At 8 p.m., Levi and Sabas, with Amy, meet Coyne at the foot of Country Hill Lane. The drone hovers, its spotlight beaming into the woods. Using the light as a beacon, Sabas and Amy head into the marsh. But the spotlight fails. There is no moon. It is pitch dark.
Coyne calls Sabas and puts her on speakerphone, using the image on his video screen to guide her. With Amy tugging, she steps into the water several times. In the dark, Sabas says she feels like “coyote food.” Levi responds: “Don’t worry — you’ll get a medal in the morning!”
An hour later, as Sabas gets closer to the location of the thermal image, Coyne instructs her: “Follow your dog!” Amy leads her to Gracie, who is huddled in the root system of a tree, her tiny, black-and-white face poking out.
Thankfully, she stays put. “I couldn’t chase her in that terrain,” Sabas says.
Half an hour later, safe and warm back home, Gracie devours her food. “There wasn’t a scratch on her — her feet weren’t even dirty,” Levi marvels.
Levi orders an Apple AirTag to attach to Gracie’s collar. Sabas reschedules her missed date. It goes well enough, and there’s a second.
A wonderful story. Mr. Turton at his finest!
Michael Coyne told me that in using his drone to search for lost pets he has seen many deer, bears, coyotes, bobcats, red and gray fox and other wild animals. What he has never seen, he said, is a moose or a mountain lion.