A voluntary organisation has praised a local business after it donated a new drone that will help them search for missing people and animals.
West Cumbria Missing Person and Animal Search and Rescue was left speechless when a plea to Forth Engineering landed the voluntary organisation a new drone.
Chris Davidson, part of the search and rescue team, made a call to Mark Telford from the engineering business on Saturday to enquire about loaning a drone to help with the search for missing nine-month-old Cocker Spaniel JoJo.
JoJo was found on Great Gable on Sunday after a four-day rescue operation involving 16 volunteers and a search dog.
“We contacted Mark to see if they had a drone we could deploy on Saturday for the search. He said, ‘leave it with me’,” said Chris.
“The full team at Forth Engineering have been great, they contacted me later to say they were on standby if they needed us.
“Mark called me back and said that because of the work we do and that, ‘I have animals myself, that I would love to give you a drone’.
“On the same day, it was waiting for us. Especially after COVID, his business will have been affected but he was still willing to help an operation like us.
“It is expensive kit. This kit is so state-of-the-art we need some training on it from Forth, it is brilliant.”
Chris was left shocked by the gesture.
“When the call came in that we were getting the equipment ready for a search and he told us. I couldn’t believe it was genuine. I mean, I knew it was genuine but I couldn’t believe someone was donating a drone,” said Chris.
“It was not just the drone, he said he was more than happy to help as much as he can. To have that backing from a company like Forth Engineering is fantastic.”
