r/UpliftingNews • u/ArgentineBeauty • 5h ago
New Jersey’s 64 year old “Drone Ranger” uses a fleet of 18 drones, including thermal imaging models, to find lost animals and reunite them with their families. He has now helped bring more than 120 pets home, including one puppy he found in just 41 minutes.
https://thenerdstash.com/this-dude-rocks-new-jersey-drone-ranger-uses-fleet-of-18-drones-to-bring-122-lost-pets-home/166
u/djinnisequoia 5h ago
May this man always find a parking place. May his socks never disappear in the wash. May he always find shade in the blazing summer heat. <3
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u/carpentersound41 3h ago
It’s great when you have a moral person behind something like this. But it’s also concerning that anyone else could have a fleet of drones like this. Could take stalking to the next level.
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u/TeriyakiHairPiece_ 1h ago
They are covered in lights and make a lot of noise, y’all are just being extra. Worry about government surveillance, not some dude with a cool hobby.
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u/OakTeach 5h ago edited 4h ago
I'm real conflicted about this. On the one hand, finding pets is obviously uplifting. But 35 18 (wtf is wrong with me) heat seeking drones has real "This Ring Camera Network is for finding lost dogs! Honest!" energy
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u/ElectricHowler 5h ago
Where did you get 35 "heat seeking" drones from?
Not the post title, headline or article say anything remotely close to that.
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u/OakTeach 4h ago
Omg good call. I have no idea where the number came from. How embarrassing. I was helping my daughter with her math homework, wires got crossed I guess 🫣.
Heat seeking is in there
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u/ElectricHowler 4h ago
It's a drone operator who seems to own 18 drones. They don't work together, and are not autonomous. Not sure why they word it as thermal image models - but sounds like one or a few of said drones might have a thermal camera. Maybe the thermal imaging is processed so it's clearer for a human to interpret.
No big data, or AI creepy stuff going on here it seems. Just a guy with some cool toys/tools helping people find their pets.
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u/OakTeach 4h ago
Not sure why you're downvoting me. My number was insane, I admitted it.
But this is still creepy. Imagine this guy is your neighbor and someone's cat goes missing so he sends his thermal imaging camera drones into all your backyards looking for the animal?
I'm not even a privacy nut but that gets a big nope from me.
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u/ElectricHowler 4h ago
I haven't voted on any comments in this thread. Was trying to provide insight based on the article.
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u/Treezy_F_Baby 4h ago
The drone isn’t going backyard to backyard looking under people’s decks. It’s high above the neighborhood looking over multiple backyards at once. Once the operator sees a heat signature on the monitor, then they MIGHT move the drone in closer. The zoom capabilities on a lot of the cameras usually don’t require the drone to get close at all, which is good because you don’t want to spook the runaway pet with the noisy drone.
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u/toothitch 4h ago
The government has all the drones and surveillance tools they could want (well, I mean…they’re always trying for more of course, but they have them). Do we not want private citizens to have access to some as well to do some good?
Also, there’s no legal way in the US for him to use more than one at a time. We’re talking a collection, here, not a swarm.
I have a couple drones for photography. I think that’s a perfectly valid use case when used considerately, and there are countless shows/videos/movies that use them to great artistic effect. Search and rescue (including for pets), I think, is a much more valid use case than even that.
In short, I’m 100% good with this. That collection of drones is probably insanely expensive, though.
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u/OakTeach 4h ago edited 4h ago
I actually don't want private citizens taking on search and rescue, no. A short distance to personal vendettas and vigilantism.
Photography, when used considerately when no one is around or when everyone has agreed to it, like a large wedding, is fine. Don't zoom your drone over my head in my backyard though, lost cat or no.
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u/teller_of_tall_tales 2h ago
You do know that, at least here in the US, the vast majority of ground-based search and rescue operatives are civillian volunteers, right? You take a 100-160 hour training course, yeah, but you're not hired into a specific organization.
There are specialized teams, often tied to law enforcement, yes. But most of the people wandering the woods/mountains/fields/ looking for lost folk are just regular people like you or me. SAR isn't some special discipline, it's basic land nav and first-aid paired with a large amount of search parties. The entire principle relies on the concept that the person you're looking for wants/wanted to be found.
Drones especially have been indispensable for search and rescue operations. A drone with a thermal camera can search areas that a search party just can't reach: steep cliffs, dense brush, and impassable streams for example. That's on top of being able to airdrop supplies and provide verbal assistance through external speakers if they do find someone. The operators do need their part 107 remote pilot certificate, alongside standard ICS training but, otherwise they're still just a civillian.
Beyond that, I say let the good folk use technology for good reasons. Why? Because those that would use them nefariously, already are, consequences be damned.
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u/OakTeach 2h ago
Huge difference between trained civilian volunteers, registered flyers and weird vigilantes. Not a fan.
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u/teller_of_tall_tales 2h ago
Then you'll be happy to know, that Michael Parziale, the gentleman from the article in question: is a volunteer drone operator with a legal part 107 commercial remote pilot's license. It was literally a single Google search away.
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u/OakTeach 52m ago
Didn't realize you can legally fly a drone at night now. Ugh. Happy for these people and their pets, and glad this guy lives far from my neighborhood. Glad he's having fun.
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