A thermal camera sees body heat, not light. That's how we spot a missing pet in a tree line, a ditch, a hay field, or a back lot at 2am when a flashlight and a voice won't do it.
Calling is fastest — the owner answers. After hours or can't talk? Dispatch a search request and it hits Brayden's phone the second you send it.
Short list. These are the things that actually help before a drone ever goes up.
Straight version, no mystery to it.
You get the number before we leave the shop, and you pay when the search is done — on-site, in person.
Serving Baldwin County and surrounding areas. Travel fees may apply beyond about 35 miles.
There are fake drone "recovery" accounts working lost-pet posts on Facebook right now. They message grieving owners, ask for a deposit through Cash App or Zelle, and some of them send an AI-faked photo of a pet they never saw and demand money for the location. It's a scam. Real operators don't work that way, and neither do we.
My very old dog was missing and a Facebook post landed in the right hands and he dropped everything at 11:00 at night and showed up at our house. Not only was he incredibly generous, kind and helpful but he found our Molly and didn’t once give up on it.
Definitely recommend Closer to Heaven, awesome guy, professional and is dedicated to each and every call he gets. He goes out of his way and even helped me drag my buck out when it was 17 degrees at 12am. Couldn’t ask for better representation of the hunting and drone service community. A++
Written up the way they actually went — including the ones that didn't end well.
A 15 lb dog lost at 9:30am and home by 6:30pm. Read the Obie pet recovery story →
A thermal drone search that ended in an open field after the ground cooled off. Read Honey's recovery story →
The searches that came up empty, and what we learned from them. Read the honest version →
We're based in Foley and run lost dog and lost cat searches across all of Baldwin County — Fairhope, Daphne, Spanish Fort, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Robertsdale, Elberta, Summerdale, Loxley, Bay Minette and everything in between. We also cross the bay into Mobile and run east into the Pensacola area when the timing makes sense. Travel fees may apply past about 35 miles — call and we'll tell you straight whether we can get there in a window that still helps.
$250 for the first hour of searching, $150 for each additional hour. You get the number on the phone before we roll, and you pay on-site when the search is done.
Stop driving around calling for them — that pushes a scared dog further out. Leave a door or gate open at home with their bed and something that smells like you outside it, put food and water at the spot they went missing, post one clear photo and the exact street to the local Facebook lost-pet groups, and call animal control and the nearby vets. Then call us while the trail is still fresh.
No. You never pay before we're on-site, and we don't take deposits over the phone — ever. If someone claiming to be a drone service asks you to send money up front, or sends you a photo of "your pet" and demands payment for the location, it's a scam. Don't send it.
Sometimes — and cats are harder than dogs. They're small, they hold still, and they hide under decks, in crawlspaces, and in culverts where thermal can't see through the material above them. In open cover after dark we've got a real shot. We'll tell you honestly how your situation reads before you spend anything.
All of Baldwin County from our base in Foley, plus Mobile and the Pensacola area. Travel fees may apply beyond about 35 miles. Call and we'll be straight with you about whether we can get there fast enough to matter.
Night, most of the time. Once the sun goes down and the ground gives up its heat, a warm animal stands out far more against a cool background. Midday in an Alabama summer is the worst case for thermal.
A pet missing right now? Call. It's the fastest way to reach us.
Call or text: (251) 223-6144
Can't talk, or it's the middle of the night? Dispatch a recovery request → It hits Brayden's phone the moment you send it.
Also fly thermal deer recovery for hunters — see all thermal drone recovery services.