Fremont County Sheriff’s Office finds dog missing for nearly three months with drone

FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- A dog has been reunited with her family thanks to drone technology and the Fremont County Sheriff's Office (FCSO).

According to the sheriff's office, the FCSO UAS team took part in a training mission over the weekend. Sunday, the team deployed the FCSO drone in the area a Golden Retriever was last seen months ago.

Taylor Salazar's husband Fili was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2019. So the family adopted Farrash as a companion dog.

"We needed something to brighten up our household. And she did just that. He was in love with her the minute he saw her."

When Fili died less than three months later, the dog was still a light in the darkness.

"She's the classic goldie," Salazar said.

But three months ago, Salazar's dad had a seizure while driving. He crashed and Farrah ran from the crash scene, at US 50 and Colorado 9. It's a rural area without much lighting, lots of passing cars, and it's an entire county away from where Salazar lives, in Cripple Creek.

Three months went by, with Farrah still out on her own. But Salazar believed the dog was alive. People told her they saw Farrah, and they had proof too. There was surveillance footage showing her drinking water near some farmland. But nobody was able to catch her.

 "If they got too close, she'd run away and she knew where to go. She was hiding," Salazar told KRDO.

A dispatcher from the Fremont County Sheriff's Office knew of her story and had an idea. The Sheriff's Office was doing a training mission with it and planned to fly it in an area where Farrah was last seen.

Salazar and the members from the sheriff's office went to the location. She threw some chicken meat on the ground to attract her and boom.

"She stuck her head through the barbed wire fence, and then the next minute she's laying in my lap and I was like, 'I got her!'"

Farrah is home now. She weighs half of her previous body weight and needs one of her legs amputated. Her veterinarian believes she may have been hit by a car.

She's still adjusting to being back at home, but Salazar has her best friend back, and is signing the praises of the Fremont County Sheriff's Office.

She believes her late husband had a hand in bringing Farrah home.

To donate to medical expenses for Farrah, click this GoFundMe link.