He is a rejected monkey and the internet’s adopted baby animal. However, while you can’t take the punch home, you can curl up with your buddies if you have it in stock.
Punch, a 7-month-old monkey at Japan’s Ichikawa City Zoo, is making headlines after forming a heartbreaking relationship with a stuffed orangutan given to him as a mother by the caretakers who raised him by hand.
“Punch” baby monkey and mom stuffed animal
Abandoned at birth at Japan’s Ichikawa Zoo, the six-month-old monkey has found solace in a stuffed orangutan that has won thousands of hearts online.
Interest in Punch, and by extension IKEA, has skyrocketed after a video emerged of the tiny primate, which was abandoned shortly after birth last July, dragging its stuffed animal around its enclosure while being shunned and scolded by other monkeys.
The Swedish flatpack giant, better known for its furniture than fluffy toys, is a stuffed orangutan retailer and is currently working on restocking the stuffed animals that have sold out in stores around the world after Punch fans rushed to get the motherly model, nicknamed “Olamama.”
The $19.99 orangutan, part of Ikea’s Jungelskog (Jungle Forest) collection, was sold out at all but five of the chain’s 54 U.S. stores when CNN checked its website Tuesday, and no one had more than two left.
Only one of IKEA’s 12 stores in Japan had the toy in stock, and most of its UK stores were largely or completely out of stock. A listing for this stuffed animal appeared on eBay at an increased price.
“We are working to get toys back in stock as quickly as possible,” Javier Quiñones, global commercial manager for IKEA’s Inca Group, said in a statement to The Washington Post last week.
“This toy has long been one of the most popular toys in a variety of markets, but the story from Japan gives it even more love.”
IKEA welcomed the monkey’s marketing potential, sharing an image of the stuffed animal on social media with the caption: “Sometimes what you find on your journey is family.”
In Malaysia, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of stuffed animals will be donated to support orangutan conservation efforts in the country, the local IKEA page announced on Monday.
The tiny Ichikawa Zoo, located about 15 minutes by train from central Tokyo, is also facing a surge in attention.
Long lines form each day to visit Monkey Mountain, and the zoo has limited viewing time in the front row to about 10 minutes and banned the use of selfie sticks to limit stress on Punch and the other monkeys.
The zoo said about 9,600 visitors entered the zoo over the weekend, bringing the total number of visitors in February to about 47,000, more than double the number from the previous year.
There have been many positive updates, with recent videos showing Punch being groomed and played with by the other monkeys as he gradually integrates into the group, and showing him becoming more independent by leaving his stuffed animal behind for longer periods of time and more often.
