A dog found wandering the streets has been reunited with its owners more than two years after vanishing from their garden.
Nicola Spragg, 24, from Bloxwich, in Walsall, said the young shar-pei named Mata disappeared from her back garden in April 2017, the BBC reports.
But last Thursday she received a phone call saying he had been found wandering the streets about 25 miles away in Telford, Shropshire.
The four-year-old pet was finally reunited with his owners after a dog rescue centre managed to trace his microchip back to Ms Spragg.
The mother of three said her 11-year-old son Frazer, who named the pet after his favourite Manchester United player, Juan Mata, cried when he realised his dog was home.
She told the BBC: “My son came home and I told him to shut his eyes. He opened them and looked at me and started stroking the dog and said ‘it’s not Mata’.
“I said ‘bab, it’s Mata’. He sobbed. It’s a lot to take in. He’s not just a dog, he’s our family.”
Ms Spragg said Mata, who had been with the family since he was a puppy, was in a pristine condition when he was found by a member of the public.
Marty Burrell, who co-owns Hilbrae Rescue Kennels, which traced Mata’s family, told the BBC: “All we want to do is reunite dogs and their owners as quickly as possible.”
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