{"id":2572676,"date":"2026-02-23T15:56:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/punch-the-monkeys-viral-orphanhood-is-the-perfect-reminder-that-babies-need-their-moms\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:01:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T21:01:05","slug":"punch-the-monkeys-viral-orphanhood-is-the-perfect-reminder-that-babies-need-their-moms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/punch-the-monkeys-viral-orphanhood-is-the-perfect-reminder-that-babies-need-their-moms\/","title":{"rendered":"Punch The Monkey Reminds Us That Babies Need Their Moms"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpunch-the-monkeys-viral-orphanhood-is-the-perfect-reminder-that-babies-need-their-moms%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2572676&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Punch the Japanese macaque\u2019s story at Ichikawa City Zoo becomes a focal point for debates about how society values human and animal lives and what modern reproduction technologies say about motherhood. The piece notes that animals like Harambe, the Washington D.C. giant pandas, Moo Deng, and Pesto the Penguin have sparked long-running conversations online and in the media, and it centers Punch after his mother abandoned him in July 2024. Zookeepers provided a stuffed orangutan as consolation, and as Punch showed distress, onlookers online and in person demanded \u201cjustice\u201d for the infant. Although Punch later bonded with a new friend, the article uses the episode to examine broader questions of maternal separation in both animals and humans, particularly through the lens of assisted reproductive technology and surrogacy. It argues that third-party reproduction often prioritizes adults\u2019 desires over children\u2019s rights,perhaps causing irreparable physical,emotional,and mental harm to infants,surrogate mothers,and legal parents. The piece critiques the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/this-is-just-a-nightmare-surrogate-babies-are-stuck-in-ukraine\/\" title=\"\u2018This Is Just A Nightmare\u2019: Surrogate Babies Are Stuck In Ukraine\">surrogacy industry<\/a> as transactional and ethically troubling, linking it to concerns about exploitation and human trafficking, while noting partisan defenses from some conservatives. It concludes that motherhood cannot be replicated by a toy or by surrogacy,and that Punch\u2019s plight highlights the real costs of motherlessness for both animals and people. The article is by Jordan Boyd, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cnn-finally-discovers-china-uses-u-s-media-to-attack-the-united-states\/\" title=\"CNN Finally Discovers China Uses U.S. Media To Attack The United States\">staff writer<\/a> at The Federalist.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Every once in a while, an animal captures the hearts and cameras of people all over the world.<\/p>\n<p>There was Harambe, whose death nearly a decade ago sparked an ongoing debate about the value placed on human and animal lives, and the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/dc-md-va\/2026\/01\/27\/giant-panda-national-zoo-play-snow\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Washington D.C. giant pandas<\/a>, whose <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalzoo.si.edu\/animals\/panda-palooza-giant-farewell\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">exit<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalzoo.si.edu\/news\/two-new-giant-pandas-debut-smithsonians-national-zoo-and-conservation-biology-institute\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reappearance<\/a> fueled headlines for literal years. More recently, the creatures creating conversations were Moo Deng, a baby pygmy hippopotamus at a Thailand zoo, and later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZBcDOUAqkS0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pesto the Penguin<\/a>, a resident at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Australia. <\/p>\n<p>The latest manifestation of this animal phenomenon is primate Punch, a baby Japanese macaque whose mother abandoned him shortly after his birth in July 2024. In an effort to lessen the blow of rejection for Punch, the zookeepers at Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan offered the monkey a stuffed orangutan as consolation.<\/p>\n<p>Clips of Punch clutching the plush in stressful and lonely moments tugged at the heartstrings of the internet. When the adult monkeys in Punch&rsquo;s enclosure tried to put him in his place, scolding that the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Dexerto\/status\/2024815830274355229?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">zoo insists is normal and necessary<\/a> for the infant monkey&rsquo;s development, in-person onlookers and online viewers everywhere <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DanaPerino\/status\/2024852050647908499?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">demanded<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BillMelugin_\/status\/2024887685471514845?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">justice<\/a> for their parasocial baby.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>Worries that Punch would never find his place in the pack mounted, but the keyboard warriors and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/19\/world\/asia\/punch-macaque-monkey-japan.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">publications capitalizing on Punch&rsquo;s moment<\/a> let out a collective sigh of relief last week when the monkey was seen snuggling up to a new &ldquo;friend.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Punch the Monkey finally hugging another monkey is the character development arc I didn&rsquo;t know I needed. I can&#8217;t wait for his limited drama series on streaming<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XaYmKYFYlE\">pic.twitter.com\/XaYmKYFYlE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Betches (@betchesluvthis) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/betchesluvthis\/status\/2025973721194762290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 23, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Why are people so invested in the the other monkeys&rsquo; embrace of Punch? Well for one, everyone knows that a stuffed animal is a sad and frankly unsuitable substitute for Punch&rsquo;s mother and his long-term socialization.<\/p>\n<p>Therein lies the irony of Punch&rsquo;s situation and rise to fame. At the end of the day, a baby monkey such as Punch is an animal designed to adapt and overcome despite less-than-ideal circumstances. What happens when humans are subjected to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >similar maternal separation &#038;mdash<\/a>; especially maternal deprivation by design?<\/p>\n<p>We see this demonstrated in assisted reproductive technology and surrogacy, where children are commissioned for creation, sometimes using purchased sperm and eggs, and gestated in another woman&rsquo;s womb. The moment these babies are born, they are taken from the only mother they&rsquo;ve known, the one who has nurtured them for nine months, and handed to virtual strangers. <\/p>\n<p>This is a form of rejection, much like Punch suffered. Except in this case, the familial loss experienced by the child is deliberate. It&rsquo;s one thing for a child to suffer a loss and find a remedy in a child-centered solution like adoption. It&rsquo;s another for the institution itself, such as in third-party reproduction, to be the cause of that loss. Even if a surrogate willingly hands a baby over and everything appears legally airtight, that child will still be the product of an arrangement that considered his rights and needs last. <\/p>\n<p>This immediate separation is known to cause&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2018\/05\/180503142724.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">irrevocable<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/marriage-and-family\/commentary\/how-surrogacy-harms-women-and-children\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">physical, emotional, and mental harm<\/a> to the infants, the surrogate mothers, and the legal parents of the children. Additionally, kids whose womb-made attachment bonds are severed in early childhood are more likely to suffer stresses that result in trauma and even some<a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologicalscience.org\/publications\/observer\/obsonline\/how-mother-child-separation-causes-neurobiological-vulnerability-into-adulthood.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> physical ailments.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The compassion for children created in these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2023\/03\/07\/womb-for-rent-more-women-are-working-in-commercial-surrogacy-industry.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">multi-billion-dollar surrogacy industry<\/a> arrangements, however, is nowhere near the sympathy Punch received. In fact, the industry is cheered &mdash; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RubinReport\/status\/1504128589201039360\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">even by people who claim to be conservatives.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Despite the fact that surrogacy makes procreation and pregnancy&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/05\/26\/khloe-kardashian-explains-everything-wrong-with-self-serving-surrogacy-its-such-a-transactional-experience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">transactional<\/a>, creates&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/11\/01\/couple-who-rented-a-womb-forces-surrogate-to-abort-in-case-the-baby-is-imperfect\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">morally and ethically reprehensible<\/a>&nbsp;quandaries, hurts&nbsp;women&nbsp;and&nbsp;babies, has&nbsp;a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/marriage-and-family\/commentary\/how-surrogacy-harms-women-and-children\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">strong overlap<\/a>&nbsp;with human trafficking, and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/05\/29\/my-stepsister-ran-a-surrogacy-racketeering-ring-and-just-got-two-years-in-prison\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reeks of corruption<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/fluxconsole.com\/files\/item\/441\/56197\/My-Daddys-Name-is-Donor-Full-Study.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">manufacture of motherless children<\/a> continues and has even<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uhhospitals.org\/blog\/articles\/2025\/12\/surrogacy-path-to-parenthood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> grown in popularity<\/a> in recent years.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>A motherless monkey is certainly a tragedy. Yet the pain Punch suffers daily due to nature taking its course does not compare to the <a href=\"https:\/\/worldcenterofbaby.com\/blog\/how-many-surrogate-births-per-year-statistics-of-newborn-babies\/\">pain hundreds of babies born to surrogate mothers<\/a> suffer each year due to the unjust prioritization of adults&rsquo; needs over children&rsquo;s rights. Motherhood simply cannot be replicated by an IKEA stuffed animal or surrogacy. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Jordan Boyd is an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-cruelty-is-the-point-folks\/\" title=\"The Cruelty Is the Point, Folks\">award-winning staff writer<\/a> at The Federalist and producer of &ldquo;The Federalist Radio Hour.&rdquo; Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paraphrase of the full piece:<br \/>\nFrom time to time, a single animal wins global affection and media attention. Notable examples include Harambe, whose death ignited ongoing debates about how we value human and animal life, and Washington, D.C.\u2019s giant pandas, whose departures and returns dominated headlines for years. More recently, animals like Moo Deng, a baby pygmy hippopotamus in Thailand, and Pesto the Penguin at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium drew attention. The latest subject is Punch, a newborn Japanese macaque at Ichikawa City Zoo after his mother abandoned him in July 2024. To ease his distress, zookeepers offered him a plush orangutan as a comfort object. Videos of Punch gripping the plush during lonely moments tugged at viewers online. When adult monkeys in his enclosure attempted to control him\u2014an ordinary part of macaque development\u2014online audiences and media outlets pushed back in favor of protecting their \u201cparasocial\u201d infant.<\/p>\n<p>Fears persisted that Punch might not integrate with the group, but relief came when he was seen cuddling with a new \u201cfriend.\u201d Punch finally embracing another monkey became a talking point about his character arc, with people joking about the limited-series drama of his life. The underlying question is why people care so much about the other monkeys\u2019 acceptance of Punch. After all, a stuffed toy is a poor substitute for a real mother and for genuine social bonding.<\/p>\n<p>The piece points out the irony: a baby monkey is expected to adapt and overcome in imperfect circumstances, a fate that resonates with human experiences of maternal separation in assisted reproduction and surrogacy\u2014where children are conceived with donor gametes and carried by another woman. At birth, these children are separated from the only mother they have known and handed to strangers. That separation mirrors Punch\u2019s rejection, but in the human context it is a deliberate institutional choice. Even if a surrogate\u2019s agreement seems legally sound, the child remains the product of an arrangement prioritizing adults\u2019 needs over the child\u2019s rights. Such immediate separation can cause lasting physical, emotional, and mental harm to infants, surrogate mothers, and the legal parents, and early loss of prenatal attachments can lead to trauma and health problems. Yet public sympathy for children conceived through surrogacy remains far less than the care shown for Punch. The piece argues that surrogacy makes reproduction transactional, raises moral and ethical questions, harms women and children, intersects with trafficking concerns, and continues to grow despite these issues. A motherless monkey is a tragedy, but the daily pain Punch experiences in nature\u2019s course does not compare to the harms faced by many babies born to surrogate mothers each year when adults\u2019 needs are put first. Motherhood cannot be replicated by a toy or by surrogacy. The author, Jordan Boyd, is an award-winning writer for The Federalist and the producer of The Federalist Radio Hour, with work appearing in other outlets. She is a Baylor University graduate with majors in political science and journalism.<\/p>\n<p>55-character excerpt (paraphrase):<br \/>\nSometimes an animal captures the world\u2019s attention<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":490,"featured_media":2572677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-23-at-10.40.16-AM-scaled-e1771864968827.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[10155,7355,17459],"class_list":["post-2572676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-babies","tag-motherhood","tag-parenting"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot-2026-02-23-at-10.40.16-AM-scaled-e1771864968827.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/490"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2572676"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2572680,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572676\/revisions\/2572680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2572677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2572676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2572676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2572676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}