Punch the monkey, initially an outcast, finds some buddies (and the web's assist)

The heartbreaking story of a lonely child monkey at a Japanese zoo has seemingly taken a healthful flip.

In January, Panchi-kun (or Punch, in English) had only one pal on the Ichikawa Metropolis Zoo in Japan: a small, orange orangutan plushie.

The Japanese macaque, who was born in July 2025, “was rescued from being deserted and raised by way of hand-rearing,” the zoo wrote in an X post translated to English.

Inside weeks, his love for his plushie — which he clutches across the zoo and cuddles with whereas he sleeps — made him a beloved determine on-line, with movies and photographs of the 2 of them on social media racking up millions of views.

However his reputation on-line didn’t seem to translate to his real-life relationships. Movies circulating online showed other monkeys shoving Punch, leaving him solely his emotional assist toy as consolation.

On X, many Japanese followers of the monkey started utilizing the hashtag がんばれパンチ, which loosely interprets to “HangInTherePunch,” to specific their solidarity with the beloved creature.

“we, as a society, ought to create a panchi-kun safety squad” wrote one X user.

“cease exhibiting me that little monkey being bullied by different monkeys i do know he lastly received a hug from one however i’m not in a psychological place to see it i’ll fly to japan and beat up the imply monkeys,” another wrote.

The zoo has since mentioned others are warming as much as Punch inside the enclosure.

“Punch is progressively deepening his interactions with the troop of monkeys!” the zoo wrote in a post on X on Feb. 6. “He’s getting groomed, playfully poking at others, getting scolded, and having all types of experiences on daily basis, steadily studying the best way to stay as a monkey inside the troop!”

On Thursday, the zoo reported more progress, writing, “As the times go by, the variety of people Punch interacts with has been rising.”