A lost elephant was reunited with its young owner through the power of Facebook – 18 months after going missing.

The beloved stuffed toy was found by seven-year-old Abigail Brown and her brother Jervis, three, in the car park at AMF Bowling in Lyme Green on New Year’s Day.

The Heffalump toy with baby Roo – characters from Winnie the Pooh – was wet and dirty after being found on the ground.

The young siblings, with dad Mike, took pity on the floppy-eared friend and decided to try and reunite him with his family.

They took him home, washed him, fed him and showed him some Winnie the Pooh on TV to make him feel at home.

Mike, who is married to Ellen, set up a Facebook page to find Heffalump’s owner.

Heffalump’s Facebook posts quickly attracted a following – with more than 600 people becoming fans of the page overnight to help with the search.

And the elephant was reunited with owner Andrea Martin, five, after her mum Sarah heard about the Facebook page and identified the toy by a special mark – a hole where the label used to be.

Sarah, of Hobson Street, revealed the elephant – which Andrea says is a girl called Heffy – had gone missing after a family bowling trip 18 months before.

Sarah said: “We’re so glad to have Heffy back. He was the first thing I bought when I found out I was having Andrea.

“Andrea had Heffy when we went bowling but then we realised he was lost when we got home.

“I called AMF Bowling but no-one handed him in so I’d given up hope.

“I couldn’t believe it when I heard about the Facebook page.

“I’m surprised the whole of Macclesfield didn’t know Andrea had been reunited when she work up in the morning and screamed ‘Heffy’s home!’.

“I would like to thank everyone for helping get him back.”

Mike, 40, who lives at Broken Cross, said he couldn’t believe how quickly his campaign took off.

He said: “I was inspired to set up the page after seeing another teddy left on a train reunited with its owners through Facebook.

“But it’s amazing how quickly the page spread. Thanks to everyone who helped out.

“We’re so glad to have reunited Heffalump with his family.”