Save Toby was a humor website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

. The premise of the site was that the website's anonymous webmasters, would eat Toby, a pet rabbit

Rabbit

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...

, unless they received $50,000 in donations to care for it. The website also spawned a book, fully titled: Save Toby: Only YOU have the power to save Toby!

SaveToby.com

The website was created near the beginning of 2005. The website claimed that the owner found Toby wounded outside his home, and nursed the rabbit back to health, not believing it would survive. However, it did, and he was unable to afford to care for him. The website then claimed that, unless he received $50,000 in US dollars to pay for its care, he would eat the rabbit. The money could be either donated directly, or through purchasing "Save Toby" merchandise. The website includes several pictures of Toby, as well as many recipe

Recipe

A recipe is a set of instructions that describe how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish.-Components:Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components*The name of the dish...

s that can be used to prepare and cook rabbit. The webmasters have remained anonymous, claiming they have received death threat

Death threat

A death threat is a threat of death, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or groups of people. These threats are usually designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behavior, thus a death threat is a form of coercion...

s. They go by the names "James" and "Brian", however "James" admits his name is a pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

.

The original deadline for receiving the money was June 30, 2005. When the deadline passed, they extended it to November 6, 2006, claiming that problems with Paypal

PayPal

PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....

 made it impossible for people to donate money and that it was the only fair thing to do for Toby It was later changed to Thanksgiving Day, 2006, because of the release of the book. In December 2006, the site announced that humor/games website bored.com had purchased the website, and therefore Toby had been saved. It is claimed that over $24,000 was collected by the website

Save Toby: Only YOU have the power to save Toby!

The book was released in September 2005. The book made a new threat: if 100,000 copies of the book were not sold, Toby would be eaten at Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving dinner

The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is a large meal, generally centered around a large roasted turkey. The majority of the dishes in the...

. The number of copies of the book sold is unknown. The book includes pictures of Toby, and various recipes for cooking rabbit. It also has instructions on how to run a similar site.

Public response & legitimacy

The website received media attention throughout the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and in other countries. Toby was also featured on NBC Nightly News

NBC Nightly News

NBC Nightly News is the flagship daily evening television news program for NBC News and broadcasts. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is located in the center...

The website made many animal rights

Animal rights

Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...

 activists upset, claiming that the owners were engaging in animal cruelty. They attempted to have the site removed, however the company that hosted the site, Go Daddy

Go Daddy

Go Daddy is an Internet domain registrar and Web hosting company that also sells e-business related software and services. In 2010, it reached more than 45 million domain names under management. Go Daddy is currently the largest ICANN-accredited registrar in the world, and is four times the size of...

, claimed that there was nothing illegal about the site and that "it was perfectly legal to eat a rabbit". PayPal accounts used for donations were often frozen due to complaints about the site.

There have also been questions about whether or not the site was legitimate. The owners, when asked, claimed that the site was completely serious and they would eat the rabbit. However, the nature of the website suggests it is a hoax or joke, a retelling of older jokes that threaten harm to an animal unless you buy a product (for example, National Lampoon once ran a cover with a gun aimed at a puppy, stating "Buy this magazine, or the puppy dies"). The site itself never makes it clear that it is a joke, however "funny" and "humor" are included in the site's search keywords.

There were other similar websites in existence around the same time that threatened to eat a rabbit unless a monetary demand was met. One, Save Bernd!, copied Save Toby. It demanded a 1,000,000 euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

ransom. The site claims that "Bernd is gone", but not that he was eaten. Small letters at the bottom of the page make it clear that "It's a joke".

External links

• Save Toby homepage
• James and Brian, Save Toby: Only YOU have the power to save Toby! (Citadel, September 1, 2005) (ISBN 978-0806527611)
• Original text of savetoby.com as of April 2005 via Archive.org