A beloved pet dog has finally been reunited with its family after a massive search involving police, coastguards and a pair of sausage-dangling drones.
As part of the four-day operation, desperate searchers resorted to attaching Millie the Jack Russell-Whippet cross's favourite savoury snack to drones and flying them over mud flats in a bid to lure her to safety.
After she had been missing for two days, Millie's owner, Emma Oakes, was becoming increasingly worried as several sightings reported her dog running near main roads.
The extraordinary operation to locate her involved Hampshire Constabulary, the Solent Coastguard, kayakers and volunteers from Denmead Drone Search and Rescue (DDSAR).
Ms Oakes, says Millie 'followed her nose to safety' and even nearly took down one of the drones when she latched onto the end of one of the sausages.
The 40-year-old, who works as an agency care manager, said three-year-old Millie went missing last week after she 'slipped out' of her collar and lead and 'didn't stop' running.
Miss Oakes, from Purbrook in Portsmouth, said: 'Millie really likes food and she'll eat anything you give her... raw carrots, cucumber - but she much prefers sausages.
'Meat is her favourite food, so dangling a sausage was probably the best thing they could lure her with.
'DDSR lured her away from the dangerous area with the sausage and, later, they started a barbecue on the beach with more sausages to try to get her further down.
'But because Millie had managed to grab hold of one of the sausages and have a nibble - nearly pulling the drone down - she wasn't as hungry as before.
'The smell of the sausages definitely attracted her and she followed her nose to safety. They pretty much saved the day.
'Where Millie was she would have ended up going under, because the water kept getting higher and higher.
'If they hadn't had tried luring Millie with the sausages, she probably wouldn't have survived.'
After sightings of Millie on mud flats at Farlington Marshes near Portsmouth, DDSAR and the Coastguard were deployed with drones and kayaks to find and save the dog.
The disappearance of Millie the Jack Russell (pictured) prompted a huge search and rescue operation near Portsmouth involving Hampshire Constabulary and search and rescue teams
Specialist drone rescue teams tied a sausage to a device in a bid to lure the dog to safety
DDSAR volunteers had the innovative idea of attaching
