http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYFTT5kvgAQ

The name of Shropshire is spreading both chills and chuckles around the world thanks to YouTube and an unlikely ambassador for the county – Daffy Duck.

The billed bird is the star of a cartoon which is proving a big hit on the video sharing website and tells the tale of the supposed Shropshire Slasher.

Daffy appears as Sherlock Holmes-style sleuth Doorlock Homes and does battle with the Shropshire Slasher after he escapes from Dartmoor Prison.

Fellow cartoon star Porky Pig plays his stuttering assistant, Watkins, in the 1956 Loony Tunes classic, directed by the great Chuck Jones.

The cartoon, called Deduce, You Say, has already attracted more than 55,000 views and the number is growing by the day.

Such is the popularity of the Shropshire Slasher States-side that one politician in has even been dubbed the American answer to him.

One opponent of an alderman in the city of Annapolis, Maryland, said: “Much like the Slasher shakes the money out of Dorlock Holmes, this alderman promises to shake the extra money out of next year’s budget.”

The Slasher even warrants a mention in the Wikipedia entry for Shropshire, alongside other real life notables who hailed from or had associations with the county.

Shropshire Tourism spokeswoman Sarah Whittall said: “Daffy Duck is an iconic cartoon which many people have grown up with.

“The cartoon itself is very entertaining and it is great to know that Warner Brothers have heard of Shropshire and mentioned it within one of their cartoons.”