Meet the lost and found superheroes
LOST TOYS Sarah Voss, 46, runs Special Toys – Lost and Found on Facebook. She lives in Maidstone, Kent, with husband Ben and six-year-old son Charlie
I was more upset than baby Charlie when his rabbit comforter Rabbie went missing – it was the first thing I’d bought on discovering I was pregnant after our first attempt at IVF.
I rang 20 shops hoping it had been handed in before contacting the manufacturer, but it had been discontinued.
So I made a Facebook page and appealed for help. I received lovely messages, along with countless toy bunnies through the post – but no Rabbie.
Six months later, I returned to work from maternity leave and there he was on a windowsill. He had dropped out when I brought Charlie in to meet colleagues.
I kept the page going and we now have 800 members. People post images of lost and found toys. Our members are overwhelmingly kind – they track down or even knit replacements.
It’s always joyful when I hear about happy reunions with toys.
Daughter’s rabbit was lost on our holiday
Business support worker Tasha Campbell, 30, lives with her daughter Robyn, four, in Horsham, West Sussex It was the first night of our Isle of Wight holiday last July when we realised Robyn’s beloved toy rabbit, Bit, was missing.
I posted an appeal on the Special Toys – Lost and Found Facebook page, begging for help. Robyn had come across Bit in a charity shop, so we didn’t even know the make.
Three days later, a bank worker messaged to say she had found Bit and he was now on her desk at work.
The look on Robyn’s face when she opened the parcel was the sweetest moment ever. Around Bit’s neck was a message saying: “I loved my holiday so much I stayed on for a few extra days. But I’m home now.”
I will never be able to thank his rescuers enough.
Fiona Duffy
meets intrepid volunteers who find priceless possessions... and the people they helped
LOST DOGS Retired photographer Graham Burton, 66, of Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, runs Drone SAR for Lost Dogs UK on Facebook. He is married to Yvonne, a clinical nurse specialist
In 2016 I came across a Facebook appeal from a woman looking for her dog. I was appalled when I saw someone quoting her £800 to send a drone up to have a look.
I contacted some pilot friends in Devon who volunteered their services for free. They located her dog within a couple of hours.
Since then, we’ve been involved in reuniting more than 2,000 lost dogs with owners. We have 2,400 registered pilots and more than 2,000 ground searchers.
Used correctly, drones are fantastic. With a camera on the device and a video screen on the controls, the pilot gets a great view.
A drone can’t catch a dog but it can quickly locate it.
Chasing a dog will only frighten it. Instead, we set up food stations and humane traps. Leaving the owner’s unwashed clothes works every time. As soon as they get a whiff of the scent, they head towards it.
One owner left out her basket of laundry. Next day she returned to find the dog curled up asleep in it.
I know how much dogs mean to people. I am besotted with my Meg, a Staffordshire bull terrier.
I’m only too glad to help.
As I scooped him up I sobbed with relief Sasha Webb, a veterinary receptionist, 40, lives in Hastings, East Sussex, with husband Aaron, 40, and Reggie, a Chinese crested powder puff
Reggie joined our home as a frightened rescue dog at Halloween 2020. But four days later, Aaron rang me at work, distraught. While he’d been putting out rubbish, Reggie had darted out the door and been hit by a car, before running off.
We posted an appeal online and messages flooded in reporting a white dog running through Hastings. Then Drone SAR for Lost Dogs offered help. They urged us not to chase Reggie but put unwashed clothing by the door.
Two volunteers arrived with an army of helpers. We went out in search groups while pilots flew drones overhead. It was like a military operation.
On the fourth morning, a woman rang to report a dog asleep in a front garden. I dashed there and scooped him up in my arms, sobbing with relief. Reggie was hungry and exhausted but made a full recovery.
We can’t ever thank our rescuers enough for what they did.