NEWS - GROWN ADULTS REUNITED WITH THEIR PRECIOUS STUFFED ANIMAL

Grown Adults Reunited With Their Precious Stuffed Animal

 The couple that lost the stuffed monkey that they've been raising like a son for ten years was reunited with Bongo over the weekend, and the NY Post has the exclusive! And check out those exclusive photos, too! They seriously make it even more impossible to figure out if this whole thing is heartwarming, or just depressing. (or a little weird, maybe..lol)

Upper East Side couple Jack Zinzi and Bonni Marcus were reunited with Bongo after a week apart from him, having lost him on an outing in Park Slope last Sunday. Turns out 61-year-old Luis Barreto found the little guy on a parking meter in the neighborhood, and took him home, totally unaware of his backstory... and the bedbug epidemic? Or do people just pick up old stuffed animals and bring them home these days?

While hanging fliers, the couple happened to approach Barreto and some of his friends on the street to tell them about their lost monkey, and next thing you know they're in the man's apartment having "an emotional reunion." Marcus even says she "felt Bongo’s presence" as they got closer to the apartment. But they had to practically beg Barreto to turn him over, apparently he "fell in love with Bongo and wanted to keep him," noting he "looked real" to him.

The couple paid the $500 reward, took Bongo and Barreto to dinner, then bar hopped in Manhattan. Man, that little guy must have been tuckered out by the end of the night! And once home he had to reunite with his Beanie Baby brothers, who were reportedly “also suffering" with him gone.

NEWS - NYC COUPLE RECEIVES RANSOM DEMANDS FOR STUFFED TOY MONKEY BONGO

2 words- even wierder..lol

MICHELLE
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NYC couple receives ransom demands for stuffed toy monkey Bongo

• From: NewsCore
• August 05, 2011 10:30PM

THE Manhattan couple separated from the stuffed toy monkey they raised as a son said that they were inundated with ransom demands after offering a reward for the Beanie Baby's safe return, the New York Post reported today.

"If you ever want to see Bongo alive again, leave $1 million under the Brooklyn Bridge," one caller threatened on Bonni Marcus' voicemail.
Others veered from menacing to vulgar, leaving such messages as "I have your monkey, and I cut it up and took out his stuffing" and "I have your monkey - it's in my pants."
But Marcus and her boyfriend, Jack Zinzi, who for the last decade kept their beloved Bongo at their side, were not laughing. Instead, they said they were still praying that someone would heed the cries of the "parents" of the ape.
Marcus, 47, who teaches English as a second language at a private school, and Zinzi, 58, a building manager, never tried to have children, they said. Instead, they showered unconditional love on the $5 doll and his identical brothers - Do, Ray and Me.

"It's like losing a child," Zinzi said.
Marcus already received more than 100 phone calls and text messages on her cell phone, and most of them were "sympathetic, offering condolences or offering new dolls," she said.
But she has faith that there will be more bedtimes for Bongo. "I'm totally confident we will find him," she added.

NEWS - DUO GOES APE OVER LOST TOY MONKEY`

 one word-wierd, lol

MICHELLE

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Duo goes ape $#!+

Bonkers for Bongo - a lost toy monkey

By RICH CALDER

, August 4, 2011

The loss of a child is every parent's worst nightmare, a grief-stricken Upper East Side couple said yesterday -- even when the "kid" is a stuffed toy monkey.
Jack Zinzi, 58, and Bonni Marcus, 47, went bananas with grief after their beloved Bongo vanished in Brooklyn this week, plastering Park Slope with signs offering a $500 reward for his return.
"It's heartbreaking," Zinzi told The Post yesterday. "It's like losing a child. We take him everywhere we go, we talk to him. We even love to stand him up and make him dance and come alive."
Bongo is always by their side, accompanying the couple on trips to Coney Island and around the world, Zinzi said.

But their constant companion mysteriously vanished at around 7 p.m. Sunday as the couple headed to their favorite Park Slope restaurant, El Viejo Yayo. They suspect poor Bongo fell out of Zinzi's pocket.
"Please Help Me Get Home," read fliers Zinzi posted.
The apartment-building manager described the 8-inch tall Beanie Baby as having furry peach skin, a tail, black eyes and a stitched smile.
Marcus, who teaches at a Manhattan private school, Rennert Bilingual, says she and Zinzi have a "spiritual connection" with Bongo and that losing him put a strain on their relationship.
She said Bongo's three siblings -- three Beanie Babies identical to Bongo named Doe, Ray and Me -- are also suffering. "The head of the family is gone," she lamented.
Zinzi bought the monkey 10 years ago for $8 at a discount store in upstate Binghamton.
The doll stood out from other stuffed animals in a barrel, and he "knew it would be a great gift for Bonni," he said.
Even when temporarily broken up a few times, they shared joint custody of Bongo.
"I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry," said Ralph Mallone, a security guard in Park Slope. "But, really, I feel bad for them . . . Buying another stuffed animal probably won't make up for their monkey."