A PET tortoise who had been missing on Southampton Common for hours was reunited with its owner, thanks to a super-nosed Manchester Terrier.

Trying to find Bomber, aged three, was like finding a needle in a haystack for 50-year-old Kev Mitchell, who had taken his three-year-old reptilian friend for his regular outdoor walk on Friday night.

The 50-year-old told The Daily Echo: “I don’t know how I lost him as I often take Bomber down the common, so he’s got a nice, big, and green space to wander around in.

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“I must have taken my eye off him and the next thing you know he’s disappeared, and he’s camouflaged in the long grass."

Kev spent several stress-filled hours trying to find Bomber - and after a sleepless night, he returned to the park at 5:30am on Saturday morning to search for his faithful pet.

He said: “I went down the next morning amongst the thick grass – I’ve now got bites all over me – hunkering down to see if I could find him.”

After four hours of no success, it looked like all hope was lost - until dog walker Chris Bynam, 62, and her five-year old Manchester Terrier, Nora, spotted Kev in the park and offered to help, as Nora had previously been scent trained.

Daily Echo:

Chris said: “Nora sniffed a box that Kev had brought with him to track the tortoise’s scent, I let her off the lead and off she went.

“Kev was looking in a particular circle and Nora went outside of that area and across the path, so I was thinking she had lost interest and was looking for her ball instead.

“After five minutes, Nora stopped in a particular spot and I called her away, then Kev went over and just dropped to his knees in tears.

"Nora found the tortoise just like that and it was a really proud mummy moment for me because before then, Nora didn’t even know what a tortoise looked like!

“She’s a special dog and it was very rewarding because if I’m honest I wasn’t expecting to find anything even if I was hoping we would.”

Daily Echo:

Kev added: “It’s amazing, I really am over the moon. I’d like to think I’d have found Bomber eventually, but he was found so much faster with Chris’ help.

“It’s joyful, Bomber is like a family member to me – he follows me everywhere – I don’t know what I’d do without him.”