"There's no doubt about it," said "James." A few of the angry e-mails the threat has generated have been posted on the site. A page dedicated to feedback quotes letters such as this: "I would just like to warn you that if you do not take down your Save Toby web site immediatly [sic], I will have you arrested for the felony crime of extortion." Judging from their replies, the webmasters sound unconcerned, flippantly so.
Even the most vocal bunny lovers out there say that although Savetoby might be distasteful, its operators are not committing a crime, unless they violate animal cruelty statutes. A spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals counseled everyone -- the news media, in particular -- to ignore the site.
The Web site carries a variety of merchandise whose purchase goes toward the $50,000 needed to 'save' Toby.
(Savetoby.com)
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"We know from history that the more press this thing gets the more copycats there will be and the more animal deaths," spokeswoman Jen McClure writes in an e-mail. "Since these heartless people are encouraged by attention, the most effective way to discourage them is to avoid visiting their sites and to urge others to do the same."
Also appalled: PayPal, the eBay-owned online payment service. When Savetoby launched in January, a PayPal account was collecting money for the site. But after fielding complaints, the company took another look and decided in late February that the site violated its offensive-materials standards.
"I get a little sick to my stomach every time I look at that site," says PayPal spokeswoman Amanda Pires. "We have discontinued service."
She wouldn't say how much Savetoby had collected by the time PayPal opted out, citing privacy issues. Savetoby still has a PayPal link and what looks like a running donation counter, but when you click to donate you get an error message that says, "This recipient is currently unable to receive money."
But Savetoby is hardly out of business. A spokesman at Godaddy.com, the company that is hosting the site, says it has no plans to kick Toby's keepers off the Web.
"There's nothing illegal about eating rabbits," says Nick Fuller, a Godaddy spokesman. "And we haven't been contacted by any authorities with regards to any fraudulent activity on the site."
Though the PayPal link no longer works for donations, the mini-mall selling Toby stuff is open for business, says a rep for CafePress.com, which hosts the site's merchandise transactions. Up for sale: T-shirts, stickers, tank tops, coffee mugs, a tote bag, clock, mouse pads, aprons, throw pillows, thongs, trucker hats and teddy bears. Everything comes with the bunny's black silhouette, or his photograph, or the name of the Web site.
Whether you think any of this is actually funny is a matter of personal taste. What's certain is that Savetoby.com is likely part of a long tradition in the annals of prankdom. In the 1970s, National Lampoon ran a cover that featured a huggable mutt looking at a gun pointed at its head, with the cover line, "If You Don't Buy This Magazine, We'll Kill This Dog." (Apparently, we bought the magazine.) More recently there have been Web sites with the same theme, including Save Bernd!, which threatened to fricassee a rabbit by that name if the owner didn't receive a million euros by March 27. Probably not true. Bernd was originally scheduled for a garnished plate on New Year's Eve, and there is a disclaimer buried deep in the site that reads, in small print, "It's a joke."
A similar disclaimer was actually spotted on Savetoby by a visitor in early February, according to an entry at Snopes.com, a Web site dedicated to studying urban myths. "Note: this is a joke: please only donate to buy gear or help support savetoby.com."
"James" said he didn't know about that disclaimer. What he does claim to know is that Toby will be dinner unless $50,000 is raised. So $49,500 won't do?
"Uh . . . that's right," he said. "It might be hard to understand."
It might be. Or it might just be funny.
