Vancouver rallies to reunite lost stuffed bunny with owner after viral travel adventure

A search is underway to reunite a lost, stuffed bunny, found at Vancouver International Airport, with its rightful owner.

With a recent travel history that includes traversing around Bangkok reclined in the backseat of a tuk-tuk and digging into a classic bibimbap in Seoul, one pink little plushie has seen more of the world in just a few weeks than most people do in a lifetime.

Unlike most nomads, however, the plushie in question is travelling with the sole purpose of returning home. Only, that “home” isn’t yet known.

Alberta resident Joey Gibbs was determined to reunite the stuffed toy with its rightful owner after discovering it, alone and abandoned, on a chair in a departure gate of Vancouver’s airport just over two weeks ago.

“I saw her, just sitting on the chair, and my heart just sank,” says Gibbs. His daughter owns a similar bunny, a tattered grey variation called Myu that has been sutured and patched more times than he can remember, and the thought of another family losing their own beloved, honorary family member was too much to bear.

“It would be the end of days if he ever went missing, and that’s how this whole thing started,” Gibbs says.

Gibbs contacted the airport and the airline they were flying with, WestJet, but neither had received any reports of a missing stuffed toy. Refusing to let it sit sadly on a lost and found shelf, Gibbs and his wife travelled their planned red-eye flight to Seoul with the toy in tow.

“We stayed there for a short layover and then flew to Bangkok from there. We’ve been in Bangkok for about 16 days now, and then we’re going back to Tokyo, hopefully spending a week or so in Tokyo, and then back home, to Edmonton,” says Gibbs.

“It’s been a whirlwind, for sure.”

For the previous 16 days, the droopy-eared traveller has been posing for photos as any fervent tourist would: Sitting around a dinner table laden with local cuisine and sprawling in front of iconic landmarks. The collection of photographs is enough to fill out a scrapbook, one Gibbs hopes can be made when the teddy is eventually returned to its rightful owner.

On Sunday, the travelogue was posted to a ‘Vancouver lost and found’ Facebook page in the hopes someone would come forward.

In just two days, the post has garnered almost 3,000 likes and hundreds of comments and shares, and Gibbs has been inundated with requests, tips and well-wishes from those captivated by the story of the lost, wandering bunny. With dismay, he notes that some received messages “didn’t seem legitimate,” with people unable to verify flight dates or even detail the stuffed toy accurately.

It’s why Gibbs hasn’t divulged the exact dates of the flights or any defining qualities of the teddy, as he’s worried it will attract other disingenuous responses. There has been only one small breakthrough so far – a woman who believes that the mislaid companion belongs to her niece. Gibbs says it seems to be the only genuine connection, and he’s eagerly awaiting their confirmation.

If an owner doesn’t come forward before the bunny’s return to Canada, an idea has been floated for the community to keep it travelling until someone does.

A campground-owner on Vancouver Island has offered to whisk the toy away for a nature break, and others are lining up to tack on their own adventures once it has wrapped up its time in the B.C. forests. Some have even suggested the idea of creating a mini passport.

Gibbs just hopes the teddy can return “back to where she belongs,” where it can make someone – whether “girl, boy, or even adult” – happy once again.