While for some people Valentine’s Day is far from a big deal, for others it is a major day in the holiday calendar and, when it’s not spent with someone, can be a pretty emotional time.
To help singles cope with the loneliness and possibly anger over a still fresh break-up, the San Antonio Zoo has a special Valentine’s Day fundraiser – “Cry me a cockroach”. The campaign allows those mad at someone to name a cockroach, a rat, or even just some salad, for vegetarians, after a “not-so-special someone” and the zoo will then feed it to one of their resident animals.
“Be part of the global sensation and ex-terminate your past and support a noble cause with the Cry Me a Cockroach Fundraiser”, the zoo encourages participants. “Symbolically name a roach, rat, or veggie after your ex or not-so-special someone and San Antonio Zoo will help squash your past, a true heartbreak healer, by feeding your selection to an animal resident.”
Not only do participants receive the satisfaction of baptising a roach after that bugging person they no longer want in their life, but, to make the occasion even more joyous, they also receive a video of it being fed to another animal. Petty? Maybe. Deliciously therapeutical? Absolutely.
I almost forgot to post this masterpiece from the @SanAntonioZoo! Thank you @murderandmeds for splitting this with me! Happy #ValentinesDay! #CryMeACockroach pic.twitter.com/uVPPdoSODz
— Duchess Sexpert (@DuchessSexpert) February 15, 2023
The campaign’s namesake, a cockroach, costs $10, a veggie, which can be romaine lettuce, cabbage or other leafy greens, comes at half the price, while a more substantial meal in the form of a rat costs $25. All the proceedings from the donations go to Zan Antonio’s Zoo “mission of securing a future for wildlife”.
You can do a veggie or a rat too, so I did veggie. Meet my ex, being fed to a bear at San Antonio zoo. #crymeacockroach https://t.co/ojm2OHKv35 pic.twitter.com/ig53DzflcG
— michelle / OnceDiadem (@gogobebyul) February 12, 2022
For those worried about the ethics of the feedings, San Antonio Zoo ensures that all the rodents that are used as part of regular daily scheduled feedings come from a mouse farm and are delivered frozen and stored before thawing for feeding, so no live animals are used as food. As for cockroaches, live roaches are sourced from professional roach breeders, with a colony cared for and maintained by the Reptile Department in the Reptile House at the zoo.
