Sheffield dog rescue: How team lured stray dog seen wandering near busy Parkway using doorbell cam and KFC
A stray dog seen wandering alongside one of Sheffield’s busiest roads has been safely captured by a volunteer team armed with a doorbell camera - and some boneless KFC!
Motorists driving on Sheffield Parkway may have seen a large unattended dog wandering the treeline at the side of the carriageway over recent weeks.
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The roaming stray has been cause for concern for residents in Darnall and Manor Park since mid-December, and was even spotted crossing the Parkway Footbridge on its travels.
However, the frightened pup would not let anyone near to bring her to safety - which led South Yorkshire volunteer team K9 RSQ to take the lead.
The homegrown group use drones and specially built cages to safely capture stray dogs in the region so they can be given a second chance.
Founder Glen Dent told The Star: “This was a very worrying case. She was in grave danger, with the risk she posed to herself and drivers on Parkway.
“A resident, Davey Smith, messaged and showed me where she roamed in Darnall and Manor Park, and when I arrived, I spotted her at a distance not 50 yards from the road as cars streaked past.
“She never minded the cars, but definitely wasn’t happy with humans, as she ran as soon as she saw us.
“I understand Sheffield dog wardens had been trying to capture her for a while but she was too flighty.”
K9 RSQ deployed their specially built cage, nicknamed Alcatraz - a large custom unit made by welders paid for with donations from the page’s supporters.
On January 8, just as Storm Goretti was headed for Sheffield, ‘Alcatraz’ was set up in woodland off Acres Hill park.
The team knew where to place the trap after tracking the dog with the help of Sheffield hobbyist The Drone Ranger, who had kept tabs on the pup from the skies.
They had also set up food stations in other areas to gather more information, where she was caught on camera again.
The clever cage uses nothing more than a Ring doorbell cam to let Glen and the team know their mark has arrived.
Glen said: “There’s a modem on top and the cage only closes manually.
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“When something walks into the cage, the doorbell cam goes off on my phone - if it’s a fox or something I don’t do anything, but if it’s the dog we’re after, I press a button and it shuts.
“My brother, Craig, once caught a dog in South Yorkshire while he was in Budapest after getting the alert on his phone!”
The team staked out the woodland on Thursday to see if their pup would arrive - and two of them even grabbed some dinner from KFC to keep warm.
Glen said: “I said, ‘leave some of that for me, she’ll smell that from anywhere.’ So I baited the cage with boneless chicken.”
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With the weather closing in and nothing more they could do, Glen says he got home, sat down and had just poured himself a glass of wine when his phone went off for activity in the cage - and with one press of a button, the dog was captured.
Glen said: “Team members Gee Shakti and Craig went out yet again in the Baltic conditions and safely extracted this lady from the trap, and Gee safely escorted her to the car under arrest!”
The dog - believed to be a Czechoslovakian-type wolfdog - was safely taken to local vets to investigate where she came from and if any owners are looking for her.
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Glen said: “Her cold nights spent by the dangerous Parkway are over.
“It’s always a fantastic feeling to capture a dog and get them to safety.
“Thank you to everyone who helped and the members of the public who reached out about this dog.”