Spotted on The Daily Mail UK:

A hoppy ending: Toddler reunited with missing bunny after 30,000 people join online hunt for cuddly toy she lost on holiday

• Maddie Cross lost Pink Bunny at Baggy Point Beach in Devon on Friday
• She and her parents were forced to drive home to Aylesbury without him
• They have been reunited after a Facebook appeal get Pink Bunny home

A toddler’s missing teddy bear has been returned home after thousands of people shared an online appeal to help find his owners. More than 30,000 people shared ‘Pink Bunny’s’ photo on Facebook until it finally reached the parents of his distraught 18-month-old owner Maddie Cross from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. She been left distraught and unable to sleep without her comforter, which she lost at Devon’s Baggy Point Beach last Friday.

Despite frantically searching the beach and retracing their steps, Maddie’s parents were forced to leave Pink Bunny behind. But kind-hearted mother-of-six Deborah Hitchins stumbled across the missing teddy and turned to Facebook for help.

Mrs Hitchens, 40, from Newport, South Wales, posted: ‘This well-worn and obviously well-loved little fella was found sad and he’s staying with us until we can get him back to the family he belongs too. ‘Please share this photo and help him get back to the little person who loves and cuddles him and no doubt misses him.’ The campaign was shared by almost 30,000 people on Facebook – reaching millions of users – and within 24 hours Maddie’s family came forward to claim the missing bunny.

Maddie’s father Brad Cross said: ‘We had been at the beach and were sure we had Maddie’s teddy with us but when she told us she’d lost – mainly through a lot of crying and tears – we searched and search but had no luck.

‘He’s her comforter and she couldn’t sleep a wink without him all Bank Holiday – so when we saw Deborah’s campaign on Facebook we were utterly delighted. And to have the two back together is perfect – she was delighted and has a big smile back on her face. I’m just looking forward to sleep again.’

Mrs Hitchens, who runs family days out page ‘Family Days. Tried & Tested’, said: ‘When we found it I just wanted to do the right thing and get him home to his rightful owner – so I turned to the thousands of people on Facebook who follow our page.

‘Most of the people live nearby in the South Wales area so I thought they’d be best to try and help find a home for him – but I never imagined it would grow so big. The response has been astonishing and everyone on the page has been wonderful – when the family got in touch and provided pictures to show it was there’s I was delighted. It just proves how powerful social networking is.’

Due to the Bank Holiday she had to wait until Tuesday to post the bunny back home – but in the meantime she welcomed it on her daily adventures and blogged his journey. With her children Noah, 15 months, Mila, four, Eden, eight and Elis, nine, they went to a harbour, ate Devonshire fudge, visited Damien Hirst’s Verity statue and went hiking.

Mr Cross said that when he got in touch with Deborah he found out that about half a dozen impostors had bizarrely tried to claim Pink Bunny for themselves..

‘It was very weird but we had pictures of him with Maddie as a baby so could prove it,’ he said. The weird thing is that when I saw Deborah’s blog online we had actually been to all those places too and could very well have been in the background of pictures without knowing. But the blog was wonderful as to help get Maddie to sleep we actually read her Pink Bunny’s days out with Deborah as a bedtime story.’

Credits: The Daily Mail UK

Such an amazing and heartwarming story to read – don’t you agree?
Really love the power of social media because without it, Maddie wouldn’t be able to get back Pink Bunny!

Most importantly, kudos to Deborah Hitchins for many things – keeping Pink Bunny and then, creating a Facebook appeal to find his owner because she knows how important he is to a little girl out there(:

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Till later,
♥ mitsueki

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