ROCKY RIVER, Ohio (WJW) – A family from Northeast Ohio turned to a state-of-the-art drone after their cherished pet went missing over the weekend.
Sonja Jarmoszuk felt heartbroken upon discovering that Pumpkin, their 15-year-old Portuguese water dog, had disappeared on Saturday night. The incident occurred while visiting her parents’ lakeside residence in Rocky River.
“My concern is she’s deaf, she can’t hear and even if you try calling her name out, it’s going to do no good,” she said.
After searching for Pumpkin for nearly 24 hours with no luck, the family was running out of hope.
“I was just fearful she was not alive, to be honest with you, for that amount of time to be without food and water,” said Jarmoszuk.
A friend recommended that the family hire a thermal drone company based in Geneva, which specializes in finding lost pets.
“I had never heard of it and I’m like, ‘wow, this could be the saving grace,’ because I’ve exhausted every other possibility,” she said.
Craig Fazenbaker, who operates Grunt Deer Recovery LLC, arrived in Rocky River on Sunday night with a difficult task: locate a small black dog using his thermal drone in complete darkness along the Lake Erie coast.
He initially focused on the steep, vine-covered embankment that drops from the family’s backyard 70 feet down to the lake.
“I had a strong intuition she might have headed to that area, so I thoroughly searched there but found nothing. I then began scanning the nearby neighborhoods, exploring the streets,” shared Fazenbaker.
Fazenbaker’s instincts urged him to return to the lake and the cliffside. This time, he adjusted the thermal camera’s color settings and lowered the drone to 150 feet above the shoreline.
“I just started panning that whole entire embankment and that’s when I picked up on a hot spot. I zoomed in and confirmed it was her,” he said.
On audio from his drone video, Fazenbaker shouted, “I got her, right out back! Right there!”
“Is she dead?” Jarmoszuk asked.
“No, look! She’s right by the dock, let’s go!” Fazenbaker responded.
“When he yelled out, ‘I got her,’ I mean, I was just beyond thrilled, excited,” Jarmoszuk said, beaming with joy.
In most cases, Fazenbaker tells the owner where he has spotted their pet and then guides them to the exact spot.
However, in this case, he decided it would be too dangerous for Pumpkin’s owner to climb down the embankment.
Much of the old staircase leading to the lakefront was destroyed, so Fazenbaker had to push his way down the embankment, navigating through vines and brush, until he finally found Pumpkin.
“As soon as I like actually got my hands up and around her and picked her up and brought her into my arms, she kind of looked up at me, sniffed my beard, gave me a lick and then her tail immediately started wagging, so she kind of knew she was safe at that point,” he said.
The veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps then began the slow climb up the embankment to deliver the precious cargo to an overjoyed family.
“It was a relief, having a part of your family back. I can’t even imagine what other pet owners have gone through,” said Jarmoszuk.
“It’s always rewarding bringing those lost loved ones home and seeing the joy and happiness on the owner’s faces,” Fazenbaker said.
We are told that after Pumpkin was rescued, she drank water for nearly seven minutes. The family’s veterinarian said for a dog her age, she’s doing fine.
Pumpkin is the 15th pet rescued by Fazenbaker and his drone in less than a year.
