Beloved ‘Weinerman’ statue returned to West Virginia restaurant

A West Virginia restaurant is celebrating after its beloved “Weinerman” statue was returned.

The statue was stolen from Dairy Winkle, a restaurant in Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia, according to a January 19 news release from the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office.

The business suffered a fire on January 11. The restaurant owner reported that in the days after the fire, someone broke into the building and stole the statue.

The treasured statue depicts a smiling anthropomorphic hot dog licking its lips and squeezing bottles of ketchup and mustard. The sheriff’s office described the figurine as a “cherished novelty of the business” with a value of $1,000.

Sheriffs received a tip about the statue’s whereabouts and found it. The statue was safely returned, undamaged, to the Dairy Winkle, according to the news release.

On Facebook, the restaurant’s owner expressed gratitude for the officers who helped return the statue. “Weinerman had been found and had been safely returned to the DairyWinkle,” reads the post. “Thank you to the officers who returned him home.”

A suspect has not been identified and an active investigation is underway, according to the sheriffs’ news release.