If you are inclined to believe that the animal rights group, PETA, is a credible organization, this little tidbit should put a hasty end to that.
As part of Six Flags Great America’s autumn “FrightFest” promotion, the park is sponsoring a cockroach eating contest. Any guest willing to eat a 3″ long Madagascar hissing cockroach wins the right to go to the front of the waiting lines for rides. Seems like a reasonable reward for performing such a disgusting task.
But PETA sees it differently – they are calling the contest “gratuitously cruel.” It’s one thing to elicit sympathy for little four-legged mammals (they’re so cute!) or even birds and fish (some of them star in Disney movies), but were talking insects here. Huge multi-national corporations like SC Johnson (Raid), Scotts Miracle-Gro (Ortho), and Bayer have bet the farm on the general public’s permanent aversion to insects. Add to that, the fact that the cockroach tops the list of the most repulsive of insects, and PETA has a real non-starter on it’s pristine hands.
As anyone who lives in a region where the cockroach thrives can tell you, you never quite get used to them. And for many, eliminating as many roaches as possible from their immediate environs is like a part-time job.
My advice to the knuckleheads at PETA – stick with the animals.