GILBERT, the zebra sculpture stolen from a truck in Southampton, has been found this evening.

Marwell Zoo has confirmed that the £2,500 'Zany Zebra' was recovered by Hampshire Constabulary.

The piece, one of 150 to be dotted across Southampton as part of the Zany Zebra trail, was stolen three days ago.

Thieves appeared to cut through strapping that was being used to secure the 5ft-by-6ft animal.

The zoo launched a major appeal on social media calling to #BringGilbertHome.

Now they have thanked those who joined the search and posted on Facebook: “He's coming home, he's coming home - Gilbert's coming home! We can't wait to have him back at Marwell Wildlife.”

Marwell says 'Gilbert' will be returned to the zoo shortly.

The sculpture had been due to visit London Waterloo Station on Wednesday morning to promote both the Zany Zebra event and the Southampton region but at around 4am that day the Marwell team discovered that he had been taken from a truck that had been temporarily parked in the Bassett area of Southampton.

Security tags are now planned to be added to all the sculptures this week as a deterrent against future thefts.