Skunk missing for four months found in garden eight miles away

A pet skunk that had been on the run for more than three months has been found in a bramble bush several miles from home.

Buddy the skunk vanished from Emily Tilbrook’s family farm in Creeting St Mary, Suffolk, on 21 February.

Ms Tilbrook feared Buddy might have died but to her delight she received a call from a couple in Old Newton, about 7.9 miles (12.7 km) away, who believed the skunk was in their garden.

“I bawled my eyes out as soon as I saw him,” Ms Tilbrook said. “I was so happy.”

Ms Tilbrook said she “instantly fell in love” with Buddy when she saw him in a shop in 2023.

A vast search mission was launched after he went missing, with drones and thermo-imaging technology unable to locate him.

Ms Tilbrook said she started to “lose hope”.

“I didn’t think I was ever going to find him, he could be anywhere and he travels so much,” she said.

“I got a phone call from a lovely lady in Old Newton, who said there was Buddy in her garden in her bramble bush.”

Ms Tilbrook said she “shot over there” with her partner and found the skunk nestled in brambles.

“He was very scared… it took us a long time to catch him,” she said.

The rescue attempt was made more difficult when Buddy jumped into a stream at the back of the garden.

“Skunks can swim very well, so he jumped in the stream and I jumped in to catch him and I just just over the knees deep in murky horrible water,” Ms Tilbrook said.

She said she “bawled” her eyes out when they were finally reunited.

While Buddy seems to be doing well, Ms Tilbrook said he looked “very malnourished”.

“He has lost a lot of weight but he is fine. He is alive – which I am so, so happy about.

“He is back home, he is in his house, he is eating… I am so overjoyed.”