Punch the Monkey: Viral & Victimized by the Zoo Industry

Punch, a baby Japanese macaque born at the Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan, has recently become a viral sensation. Punch was sadly rejected by his mother soon after his birth and has suffered seemingly regular bullying from other monkeys in the troop. According to zookeepers, Punch’s mother most likely abandoned him because of her difficult and lengthy labor during a heat wave. Zookeepers hand-reared Punch for the first six months of his life and then released him into the enclosure with the rest of the monkeys in January 2026.

The Consequences of Viral Animal Stories

Since his introduction to the rest of the troop, Punch often clings to the zookeepers or spends time alone away from the troop. To help mediate Punch’s social isolation, the zoo gave Punch a stuffed orangutan plush toy, which he has dragged around the enclosure with him almost constantly; an image that has since sparked intense outcries of sympathy for Punch from around the world online.

Since his internet debut, Punch has caused a substantial increase in zoo visitors at Ichikawa City over the last couple weeks, prompting the zoo to release statements pleading with visitors to be mindful of the zoo’s limited space and animal viewing rules at the monkey exhibit. Reports indicate that zoo visitor numbers have more than doubled after Punch’s story became viral, which directly contributes to his suffering and the zoo inevitably keeping and breeding more generations of animals in captivity for profit, despite the negative impacts on animal welfare that will likely result. After all, these animals are bred at the zoo for people to be entertained by looking at them.

Captivity Constraints: Unnatural Environments in Zoos

While Japanese macaque mothers occasionally abandon their offspring in the wild, the constraints of captivity exacerbate the negative effects that can result from this dynamic. Competition increases when animals like Punch are forced to live in tiny, unnatural, barren, and overcrowded enclosures in zoos, leaving him no place to escape when he is bullied. Punch lives in the largely concrete Monkey Mountain enclosure at the zoo, which houses 56 total Japanese macaques, and offers little to no natural elements for the monkeys to engage in species-specific behaviors.

Unfortunately, whenever baby wild animals trend online, a damaging consequence almost always follows: an uptick in interest and thus demand for the cruel exotic pet trade.

Unfortunately, whenever baby wild animals trend online, a damaging consequence almost always follows: an uptick in interest and thus demand for the cruel exotic pet trade. For example, the Tate brothers (British-American social media influencers and former kickboxers known for promoting a luxury lifestyle and controversial, misogynistic views) recently offered $250k to take Punch out of the zoo, drawing a direct line between Punch’s plight and encouraging the exploitative private pet trade in monkeys.

Sadly, even if Punch eventually integrates into the troop successfully, he still must live in this horrible place for the rest of his life. In captivity, macaques can live up to forty years of age or longer. As a comparison, at the Born Free USA primate sanctuary in south Texas, we house 40 monkeys in a five-acre open-top enclosure with natural elements (including ample trees, plants, and grass) with stable social groups that offer each monkey the freedom to choose where and with whom they spend their time. While we would welcome the opportunity to save Punch from this life of restriction and suffering, monkeys cannot legally be imported internationally for purposes of sanctuary.

We sincerely hope that Punch’s story can be used as more than a global pity party to shed light on the large-scale suffering of wild animals kept in captivity around the world for human entertainment. In 2026, we see more animals being bred and sentenced to lives of captivity than those being born in the wild, where they belong. Help us reverse this backwards and destructive cycle so wild animals can have a fighting chance in the future. Speak out for Punch and against the zoo industry with us to defend what should have been his from the beginning: freedom.

Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Devan