Lykus
If you're careful you can play without it. I've never let go of my wiimote, but I still would get the strap replaced if I were you.
Anyway, you could always call nintendo up and see if they'll replace it. They're apparently real good about customer service.
Yeah. It was the oddest thing. It was most likely a factory defect.
I'm still digging the Wii though. If anything, it shows that innovation is very important. It also shows how important
proper backwards compatibility is... and then there is the Virtual Console, which is amazing.