Viral Japanese macaque Punch draws crowds, donations and a police arrest

Punch’s online fame started with a small act of comfort inside Ichikawa City Zoological and Botanical Garden, where the Japanese macaque was hand-reared after his mother rejected him following his birth in July 2025. Two male zookeepers with no prior hand-rearing experience took over his care, and when reintroduction training began on Jan. 19, 2026, they gave him towels and other items to hold. Among them was an orangutan plushie that Punch quickly claimed, carrying it everywhere even after he returned to a troop of about 50 monkeys.

A zoo post on X on Feb. 5 sent Punch far beyond Chiba Prefecture. The plush-clutching macaque drew 47,000 visitors in February alone, 2.3 times the seasonal average, and pushed the zoo past 300,000 visitors in fiscal 2025 for the first time. Interest was not limited to sightseeing. Ikea Japan donated 33 new plush toys on Feb. 17 after staff recognized the orangutan in online videos, a sign of how quickly internet attention can spill into real-world support for a public facility.

Ichikawa city moved to channel that attention into money for the zoo. On April 10, 2026, it launched the “#GoPunch Supporters Guide” in Japanese and English, offering donation options and 120-yen Line stickers. The proceeds are intended to help renovate the zoo’s aging monkey mountain and improve other facilities, turning a viral animal story into a municipal fundraising effort tied to long-term infrastructure needs.

The same visibility also raised the stakes. On May 17, at 10:51 a.m., Reid Jahnai Dayson, 24, climbed over a fence and entered Punch’s enclosure while Neal Jabahri Duan, 27, filmed the intrusion, police said. Zoo staff called officers about 10 minutes later and reported, “A foreign man has jumped into the park’s monkey enclosure.” Staff followed safety protocols and canceled a scheduled event as the incident unfolded.

Both men were arrested on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business. Dayson, who described himself as a university student, said he did not want to answer questions and disputed the arrest. Duan, who said he is a singer, argued that his arrest was unjustified because he did not personally enter the enclosure. For zoos, Punch’s story is now a case study in the risks that come with social-media notoriety: more visitors, more donations and, as this arrest showed, more pressure on barriers, staffing and public safety.