A rabbit tackled an electric scooter rider, knocked him to the ground — and then instantly became a meme and even an advertising icon.
The video surfaced online a little more than a week ago and quickly exploded across Hungarian media because it seemed so absurd and unbelievable.
The short clip was recorded by a scooter rider near the small central Hungarian town of Százhalombatta. It shows a European hare suddenly leaping from the roadside straight into the rider’s face.
The man immediately crashed to the ground, shouted massive Hungarian curse words, and appeared completely unable to process what had just happened.
Fortunately, he was wearing a helmet and protective gear, so he escaped with only minor injuries. The now-famous rabbit also survived the encounter and continued running away.
“When it reached head height, that’s when we collided. I was holding the handlebars, but I let go when I hit the ground. And I just kept thinking: can something like this even happen?” the rider later told a Hungarian television news program.
According to wildlife experts, the rabbit’s bizarre behavior is actually less mysterious than it appears.
European hares are extremely timid animals. When frightened, they often flee in unpredictable zigzag patterns, can reach speeds of up to 75 km/h, and under stress are capable of making jumps of up to five meters.
Something like that most likely happened here as well.
Naturally, the scene immediately reminded everyone of the killer rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and within hours the internet was flooded with memes placing the incident into every imaginable context.
But the strange collision has now entered the world of professional marketing too.
The police department of Pest County used the viral video to promote the importance of protective gear for scooter riders.
Even more surprisingly, the supermarket chain ALDI referenced the incident in one of its latest catalogues, advertising adhesive bandages “for unexpected encounters.”
