By Finn Lincoln
syracuse.com
CLAY, N.Y. — Deputies this weekend used a drone and helicopter to rescue two men who got stranded in a Clay marsh as they tried to rescue a lost dog.
The deputies used the helicopter to herd the dog out of the marsh into the hands of rescuers.
The rescue was all captured on Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office body camera and drone video.
It all started at around 7:30 p.m. Friday when deputies were flagged down at Hamlin Marsh on Henry Clay Boulevard by a man who said he was using an AirTag to track his dog that had been missing since Thursday, according to Deputy Doug Roser, a spokesperson for the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office.
The tracking device showed his dog was out in the marsh somewhere. Deputies used a drone to find the dog stuck in the water and ice.
Two men trying to rescue the dog had gotten stranded out in the marsh.
The temperatures hovered around 36 degrees.
The videos show deputies trying to walk through the marsh, breaking through the snow and ice at times.
A deputy drone operator warns Air 1 of the location of wires near the marsh and directs them to the men and dog.
“They’re unable to make it back to us without going in the water again,” the deputy tells the pilot.
The helicopter hovered just above the marsh to pick up the men.
“Both patients are loaded up,” the helicopter crew told deputies on the ground.
The dog wouldn’t come near the helicopter, so Air 1 herded the skittish dog toward other deputies.
The videos show the deputies finally capturing the dog and carrying her out.
One of men was brought to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse for cold exposure injuries, while the other refused medical treatment.
The dog was brought to Dewitt Animal Hospital for treatment, Roser said.
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