A monkey is missing in Northeast Ohio.
His best friend sure would like him to come home.
Artyom “Arty” Woodyard, 3½ years old, is heartbroken after losing Monkey, a plush stuffed animal who has been his constant companion since birth.
They snuggled together. They dined together. They played together.
Now Monkey is out there … somewhere … and Arty misses his buddy.
Bath Township trustee Sharon Troike, Arty’s grandmother, explained that she has been searching tirelessly since the boy left the plush toy at the Enterprise car rental office at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
Arty and his parents, Dr. Adam Woodyard, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, and Dr. Katie Troike, Ph.D., a former clinical chemistry fellow at the Cleveland Clinic, recently moved to Stockton, California. Adam and Katie are Bath natives who have known each other since middle school, dated at Revere High and got married in 2016.
The family flew back to Ohio for a few days this winter to wrap up the sale of a house they owned in Cleveland. Then things went awry.
Monkey, a 14-inch, brown-and-chestnut plushie with floppy legs, got left behind at the car rental agency on the evening of Jan. 28. Sharon Troike said she filed “a Missing Monkey report” on the Enterprise website.
“The Enterprise staff have been amazing,” she noted. “They went so far as to look through surveillance tapes of the office on the night of the incident, called me twice and went the extra mile.”
Unfortunately, the video footage indicated that Monkey got picked up by another person who the staff could not identify as an Enterprise customer.
Now there’s a Monkey on the loose.
Arty isn’t the only one who misses him. His gigi is smitten, too.
Troike said it’s “a tad embarrassing” to be so attached to a stuffed animal at 60-plus years old, but watching Winnie the Pooh and Peter Rabbit had a profound effect on her when she was a little girl.
She admitted that when she packs up her holiday stuffed characters — a reindeer couple and a gingerbread couple — she apologizes to them before putting them away for a year.
That explains the extra effort. Since Monkey’s loss took place at an airport, Troike knows that he could be anywhere in the world, but she hopes he’s still in Northeast Ohio.
Jellycat London stopped production of the toy a few years ago, so it’s not like Arty’s family can just go online and buy another one, she said.
Besides, this well-loved toy is special.
She’s making every effort to find him, including alerting the media.
If you know where Monkey may have wandered off, please contact Sharon Troike on her Facebook page or leave a message at 330-665-6907.
Monkey, where are you? Arty is waiting for you to come home.
Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘Monkey’ missing from Ohio airport. His little buddy wants him back
Reporting by Mark J. Price, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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