PINKY the travelling pig is alive and well and … in love.Yes, the globetrotter has contacted The Evening Star after spotting his story in our pages.He was even kind enough to send us a picture of himself admiring The Star news pages, wherever he may be.

By Jessica Nicholls

PINKY the travelling pig is alive and well and … in love.

Yes, the globetrotter has contacted The Evening Star after spotting his story in our pages.

He was even kind enough to send us a picture of himself admiring The Star news pages, wherever he may be.

Pinky has sent word to his Kesgrave family, Moira and John Briggs to say he is well and not to worry about him.

The adventurous porker, a stone pig that used to sit outside the Briggs' home in Fox Lea, disappeared in December.

He left a note to the family stating that he felt he had OUTSTYED his welcome and felt the need to trot further afield.

Mrs Briggs, a software engineer for BT, thought that Pinky might be hiding in a neighbour's house and was stunned when photos and postcards started arriving from as far away as New York.

On his short stone legs, Pinky had managed to take in the sights of Aldershot and Guildford before catching a boat west to the United States – remember pigs can't fly.

With no end to this piglet's talents, Pinky has also managed to e-mail the Star and tell us what he has been getting up to.

At the moment he is staying in a hotel with another piggy friend he met at Ipswich Railway station at the start of his journey.

Pinky said: "We are still together and have fallen deeply in love. You never know, you might hear the clatter of tiny trotters soon."

But on a darker side there is one heart that will be broken at the news of piggy romance in the air.

Poor old Perky, another stone pig who has stood by Pinky's side day after day, is devastated.

What will happen to Perky now that she has been unceremoniously ditched in the public eye?

Pinky has refused to reveal his whereabouts for the moment but has told his family that he will be back some day. He has also said that another postcard is on the way soon – but until then we will wait in anticipation for word of his next adventure.