Cookie has eluded rescuers

A family whose hamster darted into a miniature golf course tunnel during a holiday stop-off believe he has made a further break for freedom.

Council workmen in Llangollen were called in after an appeal to find four-month-old Cookie but when they broke into the dead-end tunnel, they discovered the adventurous rodent had gone.

The Taylors believe biscuit-coloured Cookie has now wandered off somewhere else on the course or disappeared into nearby fields.

Jade is now coming to terms with it and she is thinking he could be free rather than in a cage Neil Taylor, Jade's father

Cookie's owner, 13-year-old Jade Taylor, was distraught when Cookie vanished up the pyramid-shaped course hole on Saturday as the family returned to Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, after a week-long holiday in Barmouth, north Wales.

The Taylors had to continue their journey home without Cookie, but quickly issued an appeal for assistance.

They were inundated with offers of help, from residents equipped with poking sticks to a worker from an international rescue team, who jumped in his car with a fibre-optic camera to help trace Cookie.

Workmen believe Cookie dug himself out of trouble and could be somewhere else on the mini golf course or moved on to find food and shelter.

"On Saturday, Jade was very tearful, as you can imagine," said her father Neil Taylor.

"But she is now coming to terms with it and she is thinking he could be free rather than in a cage. Children can be quite philosophical."

Anyone with information about Cookie's whereabouts should contact Neil Taylor on 01782 251194.