Ryan Reynolds Offers $5,000 to Help Woman Recover Stolen Bear with Dead Mother’s Voice Inside

Ryan Reynolds does a lot of silly things with his massive platform, but he also steps up to use it for good when he can. On Saturday, he decided to lend his sizable social media voice to the search for a missing bear with real personal meaning.

Reynolds caught wind of the bear, which had been stolen inside a backpack alongside an iPad in the West End neighborhood of Vancouver, when a CBC reporter tweeted out a picture of the stuffed animal with a heartbreaking message.

“Mara, the owner says it has her mom’s voice inside saying, ‘I love you I’m proud of you, I’ll always be with you,” wrote Deborah Goble. “Her mom died last year.”

A young woman named Mara Soriano responded to Goble’s post with an image of her in hospice with her mother, asking that the bear be returned, or that anyone with information email her at findmamabearyvr [at] gmail.com.

Soriano’s post was reshared 675 times as of this writing, with 6.6k heart reactions. Goble reached 22k shares, with 39.2k heart reacts. Reynolds eclipsed both, sharing their story wider than ever with 76.7k shares and 266.7k heart reacts.

“$5,000 to anyone who returns this bear to Mara. Zero questions asked,” Reynolds wrote. “I think we all need this bear to come home.”

When a troll responded to Reynolds’ post that Soriano should have taken better care of it if it meant so much to her, she jumped in to respond.

“You’re right, I’ve been kicking myself so hard for letting my guard down for even a moment,” she tweeted. “But I got a call that a very good friend was hit by a car on his way to help us out so I panicked, I didn’t know the severity of his situation and dropped everything to get to him ASAP.”

Soriano thanked Reynolds for sharing her story and has spent much of the day on Sunday updating her followers on Twitter with the ongoing investigation into her missing bear after the Vancouver Police got involved, retweeting Goble’s post as well.

Remarkably, Soriano has surveillance footage from two nearby restaurant that purportedly show the suspect with her bag. She’s tracked the path the footage shows the suspect taking through an alley, though unfortunately with a hat on and head down, it’s impossible to identify the individual.

Nevertheless, it is amazing how quick the response has been as the search for this missing bear with such significant personal meaning to Soriano is being taken quite seriously north of the border.

Now, with Reynolds’ added financial incentive, perhaps this footage will help Soriano and the Vancouver PD get some more clues toward the identity of the thief, and maybe recover the bear.

Got a story or tip for us? Email TooFab editors at [email protected].