The owner of a blind hedgehog who was stolen five days ago says he and his wife are "overjoyed" that their pet has been found after they began to lose hope.
Frank Tett, 80, and Veronica Tett, 78, reported their van stolen on Saturday which had Stephen inside.
Mr Tett was setting up a market stall in Leeds hoping to raise money for his injured hedgehog charity in North Lincolnshire.
He had planned to show Stephen off and tell people about the work his charity does.
He said Stephen was in a cat carrier in the passenger seat strapped in when the van was stolen as he was setting up.
After making appeals on social media without any luck, Mr Tett feared the animal would never be returned.
He told Sky News: "All of our hedgehogs are special but Stephen is vulnerable because he's blind. We were accepting that fact we'd never see him again."
However, on Wednesday, Mrs Tett got a call from a "lovely couple" to say they had found Stephen while walking their dog and "just burst into tears".
"The toerag must have had a conscience because he left Stephen, still in the cat carrier, by the side of the road, along with a carrier bag that was in the van with some cash and our business cards still inside," Mr Tett said.
The couple, Michael and Carol Hunter, called the number on the business card and told Mrs Tett the good news.
Speaking of the moment they were reunited with Stephen, Mr Tett said: "Well I walked in and he was still in his cat carrier and he ran to the grill and started sniffing and my wife said 'he recognises your voice!' We were overjoyed."
Stephen, who is just over a year old, was brought into the hedgehog hospital last year after being poisoned.
"The councils spray bushes and hedges with chemicals and it poisons the hedgehogs," Mr Tett said.
"Last year in a very short space of time we had about 10 come in poisoned. Most of them die but Stephen survived, but of course he was blinded. We are just desperately trying to stop the extinction of wild hedgehogs."
After picking Stephen up they offered the couple a reward but were told "don't be silly", and instead, the Hunters gave the charity a donation.
Mr and Mrs Tett have around 140 hedgehogs.
"They all have names and record sheets. We have a triage, an intensive care ward, and they go back into the woodland called Andrews Hedgehog Village and they acclimatise, and then off they go back into the wild."
Stephen is doing well and only lost 50g in weight during his ordeal but is now happy back at home.
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I hope someone makes it into a book with the proceeds going to their charity.