An Iowa City restaurant's prized pig was stolen. The thieves returned it with an apology note.

IOWA CITY — A downtown Iowa City restaurant has its pig back.

The Iowa Chop House, 222 E. Washington St., posted on Facebook that its metal pig, Choppy, was taken from its patio at 12:38 a.m. Saturday.

'We love Choppy and we miss him,' the post reads.

Restaurant owner George Etre said the pig was returned Tuesday morning with a heartfelt and humorous apology note.

'To the owner of Choppy,' the note reads. 'We are dumb. Sorry we took your pig. He was well fed during his abstance.'

The letter writer may not be a good speller and probably meant absence and not 'abstance.' But the writer did sign it with a heart and 'Please accept our apology.' along with photos of the pig back on the restaurant's patio.

'We have gotten calls and well wishes from all over the state and we want to thank everyone for getting Choppy home,' the restaurant said in a statement Tuesday morning,

When Choppy went missing, the Iowa Chop House posted on Facebook an image from a surveillance video of a woman taking the pig, though her face was obscured with an emoji. The restaurant offered a reward of free water to anyone who returned the pig and threatened to release a video of the theft if the pig was not returned.

To celebrate Choppy's return, the restaurant said it is offering discounts on beer for the rest of the week.

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