FOR two weeks a giant bear has been the talk of the Three Towns as residents watch his journey around the area.

The six feet bear, now known as Rainbow, first captured the community’s curiosity when appeared sitting on a bench in Ardrossan’s Glasgow Street on Friday, February 5.

Where had he come from? Who did he belong to? Why was he left on his own in the street? There was talk of him being saved from the bins and guesses of an unwanted Valentine’s gift but no one had answers.

There was also talk of the teddy belonging to a taxi driver who was taking him and dropping him around the town.

By Monday he had crossed the border to Saltcoats and was spotted sitting proudly on the small boat outside Cali Stores.

This time he had a sign to make sure passers-by people smiled when they spotted him proudly saying, ‘keep smiling’.

But it wasn’t long before the bear was returned to Ardrossan and was found outside Park Church in Stanley Road on Thursday, this time with a red heart attached to his

sign.

On Friday, the bear turned up at several businesses in the town, making his way to K9 Creche in Stevenston before heading to the former Registry office in Saltcoats then making his way along Hamilton Street to the Kandy Bar.

The bear now had his own Facebook page, affectionately called Rainbow – the Three Toons Bear and boasting over 800 followers.

The page was filled with pictures of Rainbow’s adventures as people shared their photos of sightings of the bear around the towns.

People were asked to tag photos of him if they spotted him around the Three Towns. But then, on Friday evening after being spotted inside the Metro nightclub, Rainbow has vanished.

And now, his Facebook page and followers are appealing to anyone who has taken their beloved community champion to return him to the bench where he was first found.

The members of the Rainbow The Three Toons Bear page are turning detective to find the giant teddy.

Their first clue was that on Valentine’s Day balloons and some red roses were tied to the bench where the bear was first spotted in Glasgow Street – but no bear.

And on Tuesday morning ransom notes appeared around the town from a kidnapper claiming to have Rainbow. They demanded two Gregg’s sausage rolls in exchange for his return to be left on a specific bench in Glebe Park.

But no one showed up and Rainbow is till missing as we went to print.

If you go on a bear hunt and spot him let us know as we will be keeping readers up to date online if Rainbow returns to the Three Towns.