Anyone here hear about "Toby?"

[hyphenate]

This guy has this website set up about a rabbit he named Toby. http://www.savetoby.com.

I don't know how serious he is, but he says he's going to kill and eat Toby in June if people don't contribute money to keep Toby alive. I'm sure it's a hoax, but with some people, you never quite know. Supposedly he's raised $16,000 already. I hit the "donate" button last night, and it said he's not accepting any more money at this time.

If he's serious, or even if he's not, there are going to be an awful lot of copycats out there who are going to put animals in danger as a result. I know (and everyone HERE knows) that there are an awful lot of gullible people, as well as seriously deranged people, online, and this could be a very sad fad to come about.

[northzax]

1. it's BS

in fact, it's a copycat of other sites similar to it.

plus, it's a fucking rabbit. Look, I know that every life is sacred and all that, but come on, it's not like it was the last passenger pigeon or something. is a rabbit really worth a million dollars?

and why, if you were going to donate (paypal has pulled his account) did you not just report it to the police for animal cruelty?

[catmandu57]

3. I can get an eating rabbit here

For about three bucks.

[hyphenate]

5. I wasn't actually going to donate.

I wanted to see what kind of information PayPal would pull up, and obviously, it didn't.

But I wanted to check this out before I reported it. If it's been online for awhile now, I'm sure some group has raised a red flag on it.

[Demit]

2. I don't know that.

I don't know how you know that, but don't speak for me please.

[DulceDecorum]

4. Reminds me of those slaves

that people in the Bible Belt are so fond of buying.

They won't do anything to annihilate tha alleged slave traders,
but they WILL collect money
and send it to them to purchase a slave
-- just like their great-grandaddies.

[hyphenate]

6. I found my own answer!

Here's a posting at About.com about the site:

February 15, 2005

Save Toby?

Some folks are up in arms about a site called SaveToby.com, wherein it is claimed that a cute, fluffy bunny named Toby will be cooked and eaten unless his owner receives $50,000 by June 30, 2005. Word on the Net has it that there used to be a disclaimer at the bottom of the page stating it's just a joke, but as of this writing it is nowhere to be found.

We can still suppose with a reasonable amount of confidence that Toby's in no real danger, however, given that the site is an obvious rip-off of "Save Bernd," a prank Website where a similar hapless critter has been held hostage for the past six months while its owner supposedly awaits a cumulative ransom of 1,000,000 Euros. The fine print at the bottom of Bernd's home page reads: "It's a joke."

I should note that while the PayPal buttons on SaveToby.com do lead to a functioning account where "donations" can be made (which I don't recommend, by the way), it is NOT the same account displayed in the screenshot on the home page, which lists a purported $14,000+ in moneys collected so far even though PayPal says it is currently unable to receive funds. Caveat emptor!

http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/a/146890.htm

[Spinzonner]

7. "Silly Website"

[JohnnyRingo]

8. I ran into that site yesterday.....

I don't believe him for a minute.
What a shameless asshole.

I looked hard for a sense of satire or humor, and quickly realized he was just taking the opportunity to fleece sensitive people of their cash.

I can't believe people are actually sending him money.....But then again there's Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell basically doing the same thing.

On edit:
If it's a "joke" and actual donations can't be completed....No harm, I guess. (I didn't try the PayPal link)

[shawcomm]

9. mmmm... rabbit dumplings