A DOG stolen in a burglary has been found miles away from home after being missing for a year.

One-year-old female brindle lurcher Zulu was found at Swanmore College and taken to a vets before being collected by Winchester City Council’s animal welfare service.

As Zulu was microchipped, the team contacted her owner Danny Allan, who previously lived in Devon but is now living in Wiltshire, and were able to reunite them.

Dave Griffiths, senior Animal Welfare Officer, said: “Zulu was microchipped but was registered to a Devon address. I left a message on the telephone number given to say that we had found the dog. Some people pass dogs on and forget to update the microchip database so, as it was so far away, I wasn’t optimistic that we would locate the owner.”

Zulu was stolen at just 15 weeks old when thieves broke down a garden fence and took her away.

Officer Griffiths added: “This is a wonderful outcome. It shows the value of microchipping as an identification method and as a deterrent to dog thieves.”

All dogs will be required to be microchipped by law as of April 6, 2016.