FLINTSHIRE'S most famous mascot is back home after being abducted by pranksters almost a month ago thanks to the Chronicle.

Sharon Snape, owner of the Buffalo Diner, said she is 'made-up' that Billy, a seven foot wooden buffalo wearing cowboy attire, is back where he belongs after being kidnapped on a Saturday night.

Sharon explained: 'I got a call from a man just minutes after the Chronicle came out last Friday. He said: 'I've got your buffalo!'

An article in the Chronicle featured Sharon urging jokers to return the buffalo who helped set the image of the diner and she was delighted the appeal did the trick.

'I knew all along it had been a practical joke and that someone would find him eventually,' said Sharon, who was distraught on discovering the £400 animal had been snatched a week before she was due to open on August 4.

The man who called was a victim of the prank himself he woke up on a Sunday morning to be greeted by the horned animal wearing a yellow waistcoat staring at him from his back garden in Chestnut Road, Flint.

He told Sharon that his friends had been responsible for carrying Billy through the streets and had planted him at his home for a laugh.

'I thought things would have got a lot worst though I was expecting ransom notes and all sorts,' she said.

Sharon's husband Philip quickly went round to the house to rescue Billy, keeping his fingers crossed that the call was not a hoax.

'Philip had to go round in the jeep and put the buffalo in the back, which was a bit of a struggle,' said Sharon, who lives in Mostyn.

The man has claimed his reward of a meal for two at the diner for Billy's safe return.