Bonni Marcus and Bongo (Christopher Sadowski)
It’s a monkey miracle — Bongo has been found!
An Upper East Side couple grieving over the loss of a stuffed toy monkey they’ve raised like a son the past decade went bananas with joy Saturday night after being reunited with their beloved Beanie Baby.
“I never gave up hope — I prayed, mediated, and now he’s with us again,” said Bonni Marcus, 47, who along with boyfriend Jack Zinzi, 58, were devastated after losing Bongo on their way to a restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn, on August 1.
The 8-inch-tall doll was found Tuesday by Luis Barreto, 61, an unemployed Park Slope man, who discovered it atop a parking meter.
But unaware that it belonged to the couple and had gone missing — and finding it irresistibly cute — Barreto brought it back to his Sterling Place home, where he displayed it on a stereo speaker.
Bongo was only reunited with his “parents” after they returned to Flatbush Avenue by Sterling Place on Saturday to hang more fliers pleading for its return, and Zinzi approached Barreto and some other men hanging out on the street and told them about Bongo and the reward.
Barreto realized he had Bongo and headed with the couple back to his pad for an emotional reunion.
Marcus, who teaches English as a second language at a Manhattan private school, Rennert Bilingual, said she “felt Bongo’s presence” even while approaching the apartment.
But she said she had to closely examine the monkey to make sure it was Bongo. She confirmed this through the doll’s identifying marks, including a “burn scar” she had accidentally given the stuffed animal five years ago after a lit ash from a cigar she was smoking blew onto it.
“I was devastated and gave up smoking after it,” she said.
The couple then presented a cash-strapped Barreto the $500 reward they publicly promised for whoever found Bongo — but only after having to beg him to turn the doll over.
“I fell in love with Bongo and wanted to keep him,” Barreto said. “He looked real to me and is cute.”
Ultimately, he said he caved in after seeing how “heartbroken” Marcus was and being promised he could visit the doll.
He then collected the cash while celebrating with the couple at El Gran Castillo de Jagua – the same Flatbush Avenue eatery Marcus and Zinzi were heading to August 1 when Bongo accidently fell out of Zinzi’s pocket.
Following dinner with Baretto, the couple and toy monkey headed back to Manhattan to bar hop before returning home so Bongo could again sleep in the bed it shares with them.
Bongo will also be reunited with his identical Beanie Baby brothers — named Doe, Ray and Me — who Marcus said, “were also suffering.”