Buddy the skunk missing from Little Stonham, near Stowmarket, found in Old Newton

A pet skunk who was missing for four months has been found in a bramble bush miles from home.

Buddy the skunk escaped his enclosure in Little Stonham, near Stowmarket, on Friday, February 21 and his owner, Emily Tilbrook, had been searching for him ever since.

After more than 100 days of worrying for her pet skunk and multiple false alarms of potential sightings, Buddy was spotted on Friday, June 6 just after 6pm in a back garden in Old Newton — a 15 minute drive from Emily’s home.

“I called out ‘Buddy’, and his head perked up straight away”, she said. “It was raining and he was hidden in a bramble bush — but I saw his face and I knew it was him by his markings. I just bawled my eyes out.

“I cried and cried, I couldn’t believe we had found him.

“I had lost all hope to be honest and it just feels incredible to have him back after all this time.”

Emily, her partner Jay and her mum joined couple Jen and Chris, who called in the sighting, for the mission to retrieve Buddy in a safe way to not cause him too much distress.

Emily crawled halfway into the bramble bush but after being unable to reach him, Buddy bolted along a nearby stream before falling into a ditch filled with knee-high water.

After swimming to the other side of the ditch, Jen picked up the two-year-old skunk but he sprayed her and she dropped him back into the stream.

Luckily, Emily was able to grab him and wrap him in a towel before Jay took him to the car where he was placed in the boot.

Emily said: “There isn’t a word to describe how happy I am — I’m ecstatic and overjoyed. I’m just so happy he’s alive.”

The stinky ordeal was not yet over as Buddy sprayed again in Emily’s boot on the way home — and again when the owner tried to give him a bath.

Emily described the smell as ‘horrible’ and ‘revolting’ which ‘lingers in the back of your throat and up your nose’.

She said Buddy had lost a lot of weight since going missing and looked malnourished when they recovered him, however he is now doing well after some larger meals.

Emily said she was glad to be able to feed him by hand last night — something she thought would have taken longer to do as they need to rebuild his trust.

Emily runs Em’z Exotic Encounters, which offers exotic animal visits to parties, schools and other venues — showcasing her collection of frogs, snakes, lizards and other animals.

Buddy was her first mammal and after forming a strong bond with him, she and Jay decided to keep him as a pet rather than include him in events.

Emily said after gaining so much attention online while missing, she has started Buddy’s own Facebook page, where she will provide regular updates on how he is doing as she said he is now ‘a true Suffolk celebrity’ whose works as a full-time ‘escape artist’.