Little Boy Leaves His Toy Tiger in the Airport and Comes Back to Find He's Been on an Adventure

I can still remember the day I lost my beloved stuffed rabbit in a Pier 1 Imports when I was 3. I fell asleep and the rabbit slipped out of the cart, my mom leaving the store with her sleeping toddler unaware of the tragedy about to unfold once I woke up at our house. Luckily, 6-year-old Owen — who lost his toy tiger, Hobbes, in the Tampa International Airport — didn't suffer the same fate. Not only was Hobbes returned to him by the airport employees, but they also took the stuffed animal on the adventure of a lifetime.

The airport received a call on Saturday morning from Owen's mother, Amanda Lake, who said her son was completely distraught when he realized that Hobbes was missing. The Lost and Found department began calling around the airport until the tiger was found outside a children's play area, at which point it was taken to the Airport Operations Center's manager, Tony D'Aiuto.

Meanwhile in Houston, Lake was telling her son that Hobbes was on an adventure and that they'd see him when they got back — little did she know, she was actually right. D'Aiuto took the tiger all around the airport on his lunch hour, snapping photos of Hobbes's little adventure, and went even further beyond the call of duty to turn those snaps into a photo book (with a storyline!) for the boy. When the family returned to TPA, they went straight to pick up Hobbes, and Owen was surprised with the book.

His mother, who was moved to tears by the gesture, said of the situation: "We already told him 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. Thank you to everyone at Tampa International Airport who took such great care of Hobbes. It was such a nice surprise."

Scroll to see what Hobbes got up to at TPA thanks to the sweet airport employees.