Much-loved mascot George the giraffe has returned home after a misadventure with poachers who snatched him from outside a Brisbane veterinary clinic.
The 2.5-metre-tall art work is now having "some inside time" at the Wilston Vet Clinic on Newmarket Road, beside long-legged companion Henrietta, after Stafford police found the statue on Tuesday night.
Vet Donna Pearce said a call out to the community to help locate George was a success.
"It definitely worked, as someone saw him and reported him to the police," she told ABC Radio Brisbane.
The clinic took to Facebook to share the good news that George was "home safe", albeit a little dusty.
Ms Pearce would not say where the statue was found as the matter was still under police investigation.
'Very difficult' to steal
Staff at the vet clinic arrived at work on Tuesday morning to find the statue missing.
Ms Pearce said with the statues chained to the the building, taking the hefty giraffe would have been no easy task.
"I think they would have actually had to plan it," she said.
"His legs are chained, he weighs at least 120 kilos and he stands about two metres tall, so trying to hide him would be very difficult.
But it is not the first time thieves have targeted the bronze statues with George's companion, Henrietta the giraffe, swiped a few years back.
"We've been very unlucky," Ms Pearce said.
"Poor Henrietta was stolen a few years ago.
"They happened to find her, which was really lucky."
Henrietta went through quite the ordeal and was found cut up into pieces in a scrap yard at Murarrie.
"We put out the call for everyone to see if they could find her and luckily enough someone saw her head out of one of the rubbish bins," Ms Pearce said.
"We found the rest of her body everywhere else at the scarp yard."
A community volunteer donated his time to put Henrietta back together.
