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An airport staff had the cutest surprise for a little boy and his lost stuffed tiger

Hobbes the tiger certainly gets around.

Photo of Dylan Love

Dylan Love

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Six-year-old Owen Lake is a huge Calvin & Hobbes fan, to the point where he named his own beloved stuffed tiger Hobbes. But when the Lake family recently came back from a five-day vacation, they realized that sadly, Hobbes had been left behind at the airport. 

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So Owen’s mother called the Tampa International Airport’s lost and found office to ask for their help retrieving her son’s stuffed animal. Apparently, Owen was distraught over the loss, as Hobbes is a “one-of-a-kind” stuffed animal who was made by his aunt, she told the Tampa Bay Times.

Airport staff found and rescued the orange-and-black tiger, but airport operations center manager Tony D’Aiuto wanted to kick this rescue up a notch. He had a coupon code to make a hardbound photo book at Walgreens, which gave him an idea: He could take Hobbes to some of the less-explored areas of the airport and stage photos with the stuffed toy.

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D’Aiuto made use of that coupon to turn the photos into a small book with funny captions below each photo. One photo of Hobbes “working out” in the airport’s employee gym is captioned: “Can’t lose these fantastic muscles while I’m on vacation.”

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Upon the Lake family’s return to the airport, the airport staff presented Owen with his missing stuffed associate and the Walgreens photo book detailing Hobbes’ adventures. It was totally well-received.

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“It was very, very sweet,” Owen’s mom said. “We already told [Owen] over and over that Hobbes was on an adventure so it was nice to get back and show him that Hobbes really had been on an adventure.”

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H/T Tampa Bay Times | Photo via Tampa International Airport/Facebook

 
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