What a mix of law enforcers with drones and helicopters could not do, catch an escaped murderer, was done by a police dog which subdued the elusive fugitive with one minor bite in rural Pennsylvania, United States on Wednesday.

As officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Border Patrol and Pennsylvania state police supported by a SWAT team struggled to find Brazilian Danelo Cavalcante, who was crawling away through thick underbrush, a K-9 unit was released and quickly found the 34-year-old ending two weeks of manhunt that brought fear to surrounding communities.

Blood streaming down his face and clad in a Philadelphia Eagles sweatshirt that he had apparently stolen during his days on the run, the diminutive Cavalcante was surrounded by dozens of officers clad in military-style gear in images shown on US television.

Footage on CNN showed heavily armed officers in camouflage handcuffing the Brazilian national and removing his shirt, revealing a large tattoo on his back, before placing him in the back of a police vehicle.

Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens of the Pennsylvania state police told reporters in Chester County Wednesday that law enforcers closed in on Cavalcante after he set off a burglar alarm and his body heat was detected in the woods by a helicopter.

"They had the element of surprise. Cavalcante did not realize he was surrounded," Bivens said.

Cavalcante, who had been convicted of murdering his girlfriend — stabbing her dozens of times in front of her children — had just begun his sentence on 31 August when he climbed over the prison wall and cleared two razor-wire fences.

Measuring just five feet tall, Cavalcante had raised the stakes on Tuesday by entering a private garage to steal a .22 caliber rifle with a scope
— then dodging pistol gunfire from the pursuing homeowner to get away.

Police declared him "armed and extremely dangerous."