East Midlands' Technology Company, Node4, Supports Local Animal Search and Rescue Charity With A Digital Telephony Solution

He talks about the charity’s wider animal rescue work and how his police training plays a vital role in reuniting animals and owners. Phil also warns about scammers who seek to exploit vulnerable people when their animals are missing.

A new beginning

Phil James was a Close Protection Officer. After leaving the police, he worked in private security for several years until retiring to enjoy more time with his family.

“I don’t remember when it happened,” Phil tells us. “But at some point, my love of photography and paragliding kind of merged, and I bought a mini-drone to take aerial photos. I posted some shots of the local area online and got lots of really nice comments.”

Phil soon built up a reputation for being a drone enthusiast and was asked to help find a missing dog in a neighbouring village. Lost for three days, Phil quickly found the animal. The story spread, and Phil started getting regular requests to help track down missing dogs.

“We started Drone To Home five years ago,” Phil recalls. “Back then, I funded the work myself, but it quickly got busier than I’d expected. We’ve never charged for our services and never will do. So, at that stage, if I’m honest, it started to become a financial strain. It meant I had to make some tough decisions at the end of 2021.”

Phil’s love of dogs meant he couldn’t stand aside after he’d seen how helpful his service had been and applied for charitable status. He was successful, and in April 2022, Drone To Home became a registered charity—the UK’s first drone-based animal search and rescue charity, to be precise.

Our amazing volunteers

“After that, the charity has grown into something I could never have predicted,” Phil tells us. “We have three full-time staff on the payroll and operate three vehicles. We average around 40-70 calls each day, and these are answered by our UK-wide team of 20 volunteers. They’re so invested and will usually call the owner of a missing pet back the following day to see how things are going. No other organisation does that, and it sets us apart. I’m really proud of that.”

The volunteers also field calls from people who have spotted a lost animal. They try to get a precise location where possible. At that point, the decision is made about using a drone or simply sending the owner the right advice for the situation — whichever is most appropriate.

Phil continues:

“If we take the drone option, we’ll turn to one of our hundred-plus volunteer drone operators. They’re based all around the UK and most have their own machines. We have three drones with thermal capabilities, too. These are very expensive, costing anywhere from £6,000 to £12,000, so we can’t provide them to all our operators right now.”

Phil’s police training helps volunteers and animal owners

These days, the charity’s work extends beyond drone-based animal recovery. Drone operators and call handling volunteers are trained to offer advice on how to encourage a frightened pet to come to its owners—perhaps by putting a personal item like a shirt or coat close by or bringing their car to the area and opening all the doors. Both these things help the dog latch onto a familiar scent.

“We also do a lot of work to show people how to search methodically for missing animals, whether that’s a video on our site, demonstrating in-person or explaining over the phone,” Phil comments. “Believe it or not, there’s a right and a wrong way to search. For example, people think that if they call out to their pet and it doesn’t respond, it isn’t nearby, but that’s not always the case. Indeed, frightened or distressed animals are more likely to stay silent. This means a pet might be very close, and an owner may not realise.”

Phil also teaches the volunteers some professional over-the-phone and in-person interview and questioning tactics he learned as a police officer.

“It helps them assess the situation calmly and puts the owners at ease so they can gather all the necessary facts. People who have lost an animal are understandably anxious and afraid, so we need to provide reassurance and empathy.”

Beware of scammers!

Phil’s other mission is to ensure people don’t get scammed by con artists who claim to have found their missing pet.

“When I first started, I posted my mobile number on social media so people who spotted lost dogs could contact me,” he explains. “In one month alone, I received almost 150 scam and prank calls.”

Phil gives a lot of talks around the country, and this is a constant theme.

“When a pet goes missing, people will post a photo and their contact number on social media,” Phil says. “They think that’s the right thing to do, but scammers will call pretending to have found the animal and ask for money before they reunite them. People hand over their money and never hear from the scammer again.”

What does the future hold?

“We’re looking to double the number of volunteer call handlers, but this requires some work behind the scenes and a more formal phone system,” Phil notes. “We’re not at the stage where we need a contact centre, but some of those features, like missed call information and call routing, would be useful to us right now.”

He continues: “As luck would have it, one of our volunteers worked for a local company called Node4, which specialises in digital telephony solutions. She put us in touch with the right people within the organisation, and they set us up with a heavily discounted package that lets volunteers answer calls from their homes. There’s also a messaging element that makes it much easier for everyone to keep updated on individual missing animal cases and coordinate responses.”

“Node4 was great and installed everything for free,” Phil tells us. “It means we can keep more of our funds for our core work of reuniting lost animals with owners—and don’t have to worry so much about our technology expenses.”

Phil also has ambitions to help rescue other kinds of animals. Most of the charity’s work still focuses on finding lost dogs, but Phil and his team are increasingly assisting farmers in tracking down missing livestock. In addition, talks are in progress to support zoos and farm parks if animals go missing, helping to lift the burden from already stretched police forces.

How to donate

For more information on Drone To Home, to become a volunteer or to donate, please visit: https://dronetohome.org.uk