Berkley child finds lost stuffed penguin after neighbor and dog found it

BERKLEY, Mich. (FOX 2) – A heartwarming story from Berkley, where a young boy was distraught after losing his favorite stuffed penguin. But it was a neighbor and her dog who came to the rescue.

Pico the penguin is the special friend of Luca Trotman who is almost four years old. His parents, Zach and Jeanna, who you might recognize as a former TV reporter, say Pico and Luca are inseparable. Together they met Santa and even dressed up for Halloween.

It was Luca’s first time going to the zoo. He was only a year and a half old when Zach received a surprise pico. But on Monday evening, tragedy struck. Pico disappeared after a family walk.

“She took a few rides in the car and I took a few rides,” Zach said.

That’s when we looked at each other and said oh my God,” Jeanna said.

Pico was lost. Jeanna turned to her neighbors, Loona and Lauren, who took to Facebook where they found hope late into the night. A comment was left stating that Pico had been seen, but there was a problem.

His dog found it and thought it was a toy. And I destroyed it,” Jeanna said.

The neighbor offered a replacement, but it is impossible to replace love. As trash day approached, Jeanna worried that Pico had been canned. The mother started going through the trash for her son’s friend.

“I was panicking that this penguin was going to disappear forever,” she said.

Then Carol, who was the one who found Pico and her dog Mitchell, the one who ate him, showed up at the door.

“He ran towards the door and was like pico!” she said. “She had washed Pico, sewn Pico up and brought him back.”

Reunited, the Trotmans were grateful to have good neighbors.