A DISTRAUGHT student has spent hundreds of pounds flying to Scotland, in a desperate hunt to find her missing toy panda.
Gilli Seymour, from London, was “crying hysterically” at Edinburgh Airport when she realised her toy panda Squeak had one missing.
She had been on a long weekend break to the city last weekend to see Squeak’s real life counterparts at Edinburgh Zoo.
Now she is determined to find the slightly tatty bear, which she has had for 20 years, and is taking to the streets in her campaign to locate the bear.
Psychology graduate Ms Seymour, 22, said: “It’s like a part of me has gone missing.
“I make her talk, she’s got her own personality and everyone loves her.”
She first noticed Squeak was missing when she got off the bus at Edinburgh Airport on 3 June, around 5pm.
She said: “I was absolutely distraught, I was hysterically crying about it.
“We left the bus quite quickly and she wasn’t on the seat.
“I just checked my bag and she wasn’t there.
“Whenever I sit down I take her out my bag and put her on my lap.”
The bear might also have been at the Three Sisters pub in Old Town.
She said she couldn’t offer much in the way of a reward, but would be over the moon at the bear’s return.
Ms Seymour, who is due to start an intern-ship at charity Barnardos, said: “I have offered a reward, but it depends how much I can pay, probably around £50.
“Other panda toys just don’t compare.”
She said her boyfriend, 25-year-old Freddie De Santiago, is as upset as her about the missing six-inch panda.
She said: “He know how much she means to me, he’s trying everything he can. He’s been really really supportive.”
Despite its thread-bear condition, she is offering rewards of around £50 for its safe return.
Last-minute flights from London to Edinburgh cost £150, and she had to pay an extra £100 for missing her flight on 3 June.
Hunt
Squek was a present from Ms Seymmour’s grandmother, and she showed an attachment to it from an early age.
The bear has accompanied her absolutely everywhere, including trips around the world to Taiwan and the US.
Gilli is accompanied in Edinburgh by her sister Katie Seymour, 26, and the pair hope to hand out hundreds of flyers and plaster the capital with posters in their hunt.
But they only have until Friday evening before they have to head back to London.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Squeak can contact Ms Seymour on a Facebook page she set up for the search- “Have you seen this panda?”
It describes the toy as being: “6 inches tall, with brown eyes, a broken nose and a red and gold ribbon around her neck.”
