Punch’s predicament sparked sympathy online, spawning a devoted fanbase who began posting updates on the monkey under the hashtag #HangInTherePunch.
The baby monkey was raised in an artificial environment after being born in July, and began training to rejoin his troop last month.
His situation began looking up this month when zookeepers at Ichikawa City Zoo, near Tokyo, posted that he was gradually integrating, including “playfully poking others and getting scolded”.
On Friday, more than 100 visitors gathered around the zoo’s monkey enclosure, straining to take photos and shouting “hang in there!” as Punch tried to approach others in the troop.
“We’re here since this morning. We rarely come to a zoo but we wanted to see cute Punch,” said 32-year-old Sayaka Takimoto, who drove two hours with her husband to see the monkey.
The couple said they found social media posts of Punch carrying around the soft toy “adorable”.
Another visitor, who gave her name as Yoko, said: “He’s so cute, so I had to come see him.”
“I studied his pictures in advance so that I could recognise him,” the 50-year-old told AFP.
“It makes me a little sad he’s growing so fast, but I’m relieved to see he’s making friends.”
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/punch-baby-monkey-orangutan-toy-japan-zoo-5942716
