Three missing goats feared destined for the dinner table have been returned to their owners.

Vaughan Simmons and his son Zaiyon, 7, were delighted to find Maddie and her two kids back where they belonged yesterday morning.

Zaiyon, who at first could not believe they had been taken, said: “I am happy. I didn’t know I was going to get them back at all.”

Mr Simmons said his neighbour called him at 7.30am to tell him the mother goat and her two babies had been returned.

He said: “I jumped up and went looking. They were in the same spot where I keep them down at Peat Lane.

“They brought them back to Peat Lane and let them go. Maddie was still on the leash. I took them and brought them back.”

The animals were returned safe and sound after The Royal Gazette highlighted the story on Thursday.

Mr Simmons said Zaiyon now understood what happened and that his pets could have ended up “in someone’s pot”.

He added: “It didn’t set in what it really meant. I couldn’t explain what they could have done with them.”

Mr Simmons admitted: “I thought if it goes past the weekend, they would definitely be gone.”

Mr Simmons, who canvassed the neighbourhood looking for the trio, thanked The Royal Gazette and everyone who helped spread the word, searched or called with information.

He added: “The only thing I can really do is be conscious to what’s out there now.

“The people that took them know now that they belong to me.”

He said the three goats appeared to be fine but their new collars had been removed.

The goats went missing from his neighbour’s property in Pembroke on Monday and Mr Simmons made a plea for their safe return.

He said he last saw the mother goat and her babies about 7.30pm that day when he put the new collars on them.

Mr Simmons said he searched the nearby marsh and anywhere else he had taken the Alpine goats in the past but found no trace of the animals.