A helicopter pilot in Australia recently found a man’s missing dog in the Outback in what the owner called a “needle in a haystack rescue.”

For those who’ve never been to cattle country Down Under, it might come as a surprise to know that because the ranches are so vast, farmers will often hire helicopter pilots to round the cattle up for them.

But late in April, Jack Poplawski received a phone call from a desperate man who had lost his pet dog.

Jamie Rooney was driving along in a remote part of West Australia’s Pilbara region near the town of Newman, and, coming across a large creek, he thought he’d let his dog Rocky go for a swim to cool off.

The American terrier enjoyed the chance. It couldn’t have been more than a minute that Rocky was out of sight–as Rooney had gone up to his truck to get something. But returning to the water, Rocky was nowhere to be seen.

After frantically looking around the water, Rooney drove up and down the trails in the area, standing on the roof periodically and calling his dog’s name, but Rocky never turned up.

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“Earlier that day, as I was driving past the airport I could see all the helicopters going up … [so] I just went online for rescue helicopters and I just called the number,” Rooney told ABC News Down Under.

On Jack Poplawski’s end was the phone.

“At first, they told me, “Look, this is a needle stuck in a haystack”, and I became very concerned,” Rooney said. “Once you leave maybe 5-10 minutes out of town [Newman], it’s just nothing. It’s just vast outback land.”

Poplawski, who is a dog lover, was determined to assist, in spite of the odds.

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Flying low over the terrain, Poplawski’s 20-12 vision spotted a set of tracks, which even from his helicopter appeared to the pilot as too large to be a dingo’s. Poplawski saw Rocky trotting down a track a few minutes later.

Rooney was in tears of gratitude and emotion after the reunion on Poplawski’s helicopter. Owner says that the experience led him to purchase a GPS collar tag for Rocky, and he also has a greater appreciation for cattle-mustering Pilots in Australia’s Outback.

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