“Dirty Bunny” is lost, and a young boy's mother needs help finding her son’s favorite stuffed animal.

Meagan Laferriere-Smith said that Dirty Bunny, her five-year-old Dylan’s long-time companion, has been missing since the three went shopping together at Stop & Shop on Cranberry Highway in Wareham on Friday, January 29.

Though she’s reached out to Stop & Shop and gotten the word out via Facebook, no one’s been able to locate Dirty Bunny. She believes the stuffed animal was left behind in a carriage, but after a sweep of all the carriages there, there’s still no sign of him.

“We have traveled back to look for him, but haven't been successful,” said Laferriere-Smith, who lives in Freetown but works in Wareham. “I had to go searching for him myself at 10 p.m., and it’s a 40 minute drive away from our house."

She said Dirty Bunny came into Dylan's life when he was only four months old as an Easter gift from his godfather, and since then, he's virtually become a member of the family.

Originally just named “Bunny,” Laferriere-Smith and husband Dallas Smith decided to get a “back-up” bunny in case something happened to their son’s beloved friend.

“He was up to our antics, and he wasn't having it,” she explained. “At the ripe age of two, and a young man of few words, Dylan carefully selected the word 'dirty' from his vocabulary to describe his original friend. That’s where the name "Dirty Bunny" was born.”

On Saturday, she and Dylan walked up and down every aisle in Stop & Shop with the hopes that someone had seen the bunny or left him on a shelf.

“No luck,” she said.

Still, she believes there’s hope.

After sharing her story on Facebook on several Wareham-based pages, she got word that someone had seen a woman carrying Dirty Bunny in the produce/meat section of the store, seemingly trying to find his owner. But no other details have surfaced.

“We are hoping that the person who was allegedly seen with Dirty Bunny will see this and he will be reunited with our family,” she said.

“Dylan is distraught. When I asked him how he felt, he said, ‘I just want to get through this. I want to go to every house in the town and ask if they have Dirty Bunny. I hope he is okay.’ His response broke my heart,” she said.

Through the ordeal, the Smith’s have seen an outpouring of support.

“The Stop & Shop employees have been very helpful and are to be commended for that,” she said, noting that Facebook shares were over 1,000 as of Monday afternoon. “Two little girls in New Jersey commented that they asked for Dirty Bunny's safe return in their nighttime prayers.”

She’s received tips on how to search for the bunny, and she’s had people volunteer to help search. Others sent links on eBay and locations where lookalikes were available. Some simply sent encouraging words. A husband and wife in Middleboro even went so far as to let Dylan adopt their own two grown sons' bunny.

“I could have easily brought Dylan to the store to buy a new bunny, but I felt this would be a good experience for him,” she said.  "(Getting the new bunny) made him really happy, but he's still missing his best friend and hoping he will return."

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Dirty Bunny can email Meagan at meg21784@aol.com.