Has anyone else seen this website? This guy (acutally guys, a couple of punk-ass college students) set up this website and claim that they are actually going to eat the rabbit. I still do not know if they are joking or not, but they are greedy bastards that’s for sure.
They want $50,000 deposited into thier paypal account by June 30th or they will kill and eat Toby the rabbit. This enrages me for several reasons:
If this is a joke, it’s not funny. The site owners claim that it is not a joke, making it even less funny. They said “It’s very serious” on national television. If this is a joke, it’s the most unfunny thing I’ve ever heard.
They’re preying on the kindness of animal lovers everywhere. It’s emotional extortion.
The money that is being sent to these guys should be going to shelters. 50 grand could save a lot more animals than just one who’s death would be pointless and stupid.
The story that he gives about finding Toby under his porch and rehabilitating him for “several months” is bullshit. The rabbit is no more than 2 months old in the photos. You can even see his ears fall in the progression of the photos, another indicator of a young age. If it took “several months” to nurse him back to health, he would have been a baby pinky or unborn when he found him. Making this story impossible. He created that story to further pull at the heartstrings of animal lovers.
He claims that Toby’s death at the hands of a butcher will be humane. Toby will most likely be clubbed over the head. That is not humane.
It may not be illegal to eat a rabbit, but Toby is not an eating breed. He’s a lop and lops are bred for pets and shows. That’s why he’s so darn cute and what makes the pictures so much more compelling. Californians, New Zealands, Flemish Giants… those are eating breeds. (Though I find eating domestic rabbits to be disgusting no matter what the breed.)
GRRRRRR, this has got me so angry! But there’s not a darn thing that can be done. Even PETA can’t do anything, and if there was something that could be done, those nuts would do it. I realize that I’m only giving them more attention by posting this here, but I have to vent.
Don’t give these people your money! They’re disgusting examples of the human race. It’s ridiculous that they can actually get away with this. They make fun of animal rights activists, but they are intentionally pushing buttons and will only encourage the teeming PETA masses. It makes things like changing “pet owner” to “pet guardian” seem sane. They couldn’t get away with this if that law was in place. They’re even too cowardice to reveal their identities. That bunny’s got more guts than they do. Lops have attitude.
Everyone wants money for nothing. These guys found a legal way to do it, however immoral it is. Who the hell already gave them 20 grand anyway! What a disgusting thing to do.
He couldn’t get away with this if it was a cat or a dog. They wouldn’t even try it. I would even venture to say that the thought of eating a cat or dog would disgust even these assholes. But rabbits are once again the forgotten victim of the animal world.
If this was a joke, fine. It’s not funny, but I could see how some people would find it funny. But they insist that it is not a joke.
I can console myself by thinking that if I am right about Toby’s age, he will soon be hitting puberty and pissing all over the house if they don’t get him neutered. If they get him neutered, he would not be safe to eat. So enjoy the rabbit piss guys! And the chewed on baseboards, etc. Be a big furry termite, Toby! Destroy everything you can while you still can! Piss on their beds, just like my baby boy did before he was neutered. Do the infamous jump-and-piss-at-the-same-time move all over the house!
Dude - it’s a joke. Really. We had a thread on this a while back - search for something like “What will you do to save toby?” It’s just a bit of slightly macabre humor, ripping off a German site that already did this. I’m sure the site owners love Toby very much, and would never, ever eat him.
Well, I guess I feel a little better now, but I’m still mad about the whole thing. If they removed the disclaimer that the site is a joke, and are insisting on national tv that it’s not a joke, that removes any humor that it might have had. If he doesn’t intend to kill the bunny, then good. But as long as they insist that it’s true, it is not funny.
There really is one born every minute, isn’t there?
Hey, Coulbean, when you’re done standing up for the civil rights of rabbits everywhere, you might want to take on bonsai kittens. They’re doing terrible things to animals there! Cute and fuzzy ones, too, which makes it extra immoral!
The drugs that would be used to put him under for surgery are not certified for use in food animals. You could probably eat him and it would be alright, but a vet couldn’t neuter him if he knew that he would be eaten.
I’ll bet a rabbit could cause 50 grand worth of damage… carpet, baseboards, bed matresses and sheets, computer cables, wooden furniture…
I don’t know why people keep falling for this sort of thing.
It reminds me of a fella I used to know about 15 years ago, who got quite a bit of press by claiming to be preparing to squish “Sniffy” the Rat with a menacing cinder-block execution apparatus that he’d built. A virtual circus of outrage and protest followed, of course. The thing is, he’d purchased “Sniffy” from a pet store where he was being sold as snake food, and given the nameless morsel a cutesy name to engender empathy. He never intended to actually kill the rat, he just wanted to ask people why quickly snuffing out one rat was a cause for outrage when, without Rick’s intervention, he would have been eaten alive long ago, like hundreds of other pet-store rats were every day. Why didn’t trying to divert the angry mob to the pet-store work? “Hey! Get that guy. He kills rats every day! For profit! The bastard!”
Rick acknowledged that his schtick was borrowed from some Vietnam era activists who announced that they were going to napalm a dog in a public square to show how horrible the stuff was. There was no dog, and no napalm, and their intention was simply to ask the anticipated angry crowd why they were motivated enough to come to the defense of a single stray dog, but were content to stand by while the same fate was dealt out to women and children. (The crowd was in no listening mood, however, and they were lucky to get out of their with their skin.) Don’t fuck with Rover, folks. People aren’t entirely rational when it comes to fluffy things.
Heh, genuinely sorry for continuing to dump on you, but that bit genuinely made me laugh out loud (which is more than I can say for the website in question). Even the mighty PETA is powerless to stop them! Who will be left to stand against this menace? MoveOn.org? The Rainbow Coalition?
That’s the best part. I love watching PETA types squirm. To repeat: it’s just an animal. Down in Puerto Rico I saw them selling whole skinned rabbits in the local supermarket. I’ll bet that would really make you sick.
That’s how I had to do it in Combat Survival school. If you do it right it’s very humane. Right behind the head, snap the spine at the neck. Quick and clean.
At least you can eat a rabbit. That makes it vastly more useful than a cat. Where I live a rabbit is nothing but a parasite.
Anyway, untwist your panties. It’s a joke. Not that I care one way or the other.
Just to note, I am NOT a PETA type. Though I agree with some of their philosophies, I generally think they’re nuts. I do believe that people should be responsible for their pets, and for the pet population in general.
This infuriates me mostly because, joking or not, he is taking money away from homeless animals, rabbits in particular, who really do need it. I work with rescue organizations a lot and all my pets but one are adopted. I worked as a vet tech up until a month ago. The rescues need all the support they can get and these people are feeding their greed with funds that could go to better causes.
The pet overpopulation problem exists because humans have allowed it to happen, it is our responsibility to stop it.
Being cruel and irresponsible towards animals isn’t funny to a person who’s seen the very bottom of the barrel of abuse and suffering. I’m talking 12 year old dogs that have been heartworm positive for 10 years and the owner still has no intention of having him treated. Dogs that come in so matted all over their bodies that you can’t tell where the dog ends and the fur begins. They’re so undersocialized that you can’t even trim them without sedating them. People who want to euthanize their 6 month old pit bull because she’s getting aggressive and has an aggressive bark. She’s a pit bull! And on top of that she was in heat because they hadn’t gotten her spayed!
That is why I get so up in arms about this. Because people do injustices toward animals all the time, and to joke about it is not funny.
If we can only joke about issues that aren’t serious and provactive, then all the humor is gonna gravitate toward the Carrot Top end of the spectrum. And, frankly, I’d rather Toby be crucified Mel Gibson-style then have that.
It’s not like they said they were going to torture Toby to death. They were going to take it to a butcher and eat it. What the hell would have been unjust with that? (Though of course, it was just a little joke.)
Talking about all those other abused animals is great and all, but it has no bearing on this tale of hasenfeffer denied. Besides, ever heard of ‘Buy this magazine or we’ll shoot this dog?’
