I love a good urban legend. So when a friend told me that some guy was threatening to kill a bunny if he didn’t get $50,000, I thought it was a great story.
And when I went to savetoby.com, it appeared to be a true one. An excerpt from the “welcome” page:
“Welcome, Toby is the cutest little bunny on the planet. Unfortunately, he will DIE on June 30th, 2005 if you don.t (sic) help. I rescued him several months ago. I found him under my porch, soaking wet, injured from what appeared to be an attack from an alley cat. I took him in, thinking he had no chance to live from his injuries, but miraculously, he recovered. I have since spent several months nursing him to health. Toby is a fighter, that’s (sic) for sure.
Unfortunately, on June 30th, 2005, Toby will die. I am going to eat him. I am going to take Toby to a butcher to have him slaughter this cute bunny. I will then prepare Toby for a midsummer feast. I have several recipes under consideration, which can be seen, with some pretty graphic images, under the recipe section.
I don’t want to eat Toby … However, God as my witness, I will devour this little guy unless I receive 50,000$ USD into my account from donations or purchase of merchandise. You can help this poor, helpless bunny’s cause by making donations through my verified PayPal account by clicking on any of the Donate buttons on this site, or by purchasing merchandise at the Savetoby.com online store. ”
The balance, at press time was $24,515.62.
I don’t know who this person is, but I do think he or she is brilliant. Already the ransom-seeker is almost halfway there and with two-and-half-months to spare. The marketing genius continues with a very professional looking online store from which one can buy T-shirts, sweatshirts, camisoles and hats, posters, mugs and baby bibs, all with the “hopeful” image of Toby emblazoned across the front.
Toby and his captor got national attention Monday when NBC News quoted the anonymous pet owner: “It’s very serious. If we don’t get $50,000, we are going to eat the
rabbit.” Animal advocates also weighed in on the “serious” issue, making all right-to-bunny-lifers look stupid with their misplaced outrage.
With even casual research (looking at the bottom of the Save Toby Web page) one can see that it is powered by CafePress.com, a “marketplace” where you can buy, you guessed it,
T-shirts, hats, and mugs with such inspiring messages as “Hillary for President” and “I HATE TAXES.” The CafePress, “the voice of the people” as the Web site claims, offers products advertising anti-Bush sentiment, fast food, release of the Great White,
and … animal cruelty prevention.
And if the image of Toby looks familiar, that’s because it has appeared on the now extinct savefluffy.com, among other phony rabbit-killer sites, according to the myth debunker Web site snopes.com.
So the whole thing is really just a scam to sell cheesy apparel. And not since the “Marilyn Manson is really the guy who played Paul on the Wonder Years!” or perhaps “Little Mikey of LIFE cereal fame died from a Pop Rocks/Pepsi overdose!” have I been so amused by an urban legend.
Bravo to whoever created savetoby.com. You got us all — for a minute.

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