This Valentine’s Day, you can name a cockroach after your ex

• The Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy has launched an unprecedented campaign.
• You can name a cockroach after whoever is “bugging” you for just $25 (Rs 1507).
• The wildlife conservancy has explicitly stated that there are naming boundaries.

With Valentine’s Day approaching, the Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy has launched an unprecedented campaign. If you are unhappy with your ex-lover, job, or even a family member, you can find peace by naming a cockroach after them. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s odd, yet you can express your affection for someone in this way.

The zoo will let you name a cockroach after whoever is “bugging” you for just $25 (Rs 1507). The Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy tweeted, “Roses are red; violets are blue… Is there someone in your life that’s bugging you? Give them goosebumps by naming a cockroach in their honour this Valentine’s Day.”

Roses are red; violets are blue… Is there someone in your life that’s bugging you? Give them goosebumps by naming a cockroach in their honour this Valentine's Day ❤️

For more information or to symbolically name-a-roach: https://t.co/maFh8siDB5 🪳 pic.twitter.com/ZdB8EfUSjD

— Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy (@TZWConservancy) January 15, 2023

If you want to participate in the campaign, go online and choose “Dedicate your donation,” “In honor of,” and fill in the blank with the name of the individual. When you’re finished, you’ll get a digital certificate with the roach’s name on it, a shareable digital graphic, and a charitable tax receipt.

While it is acceptable to express your sentiments, the wildlife conservancy has explicitly stated that there are naming boundaries and that swearing is completely prohibited.

“Naming opportunities are not limited to exes – you can name a roach after your boss, ex-friend, relative, or anyone else that has been ‘bugging’ you,” Kelsey Godel, Donor Stewardship and Engagement Coordinator at the Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy, told CTV News Toronto.

According to a disclaimer on the website of the Canada Zoo,“The Toronto Zoo and the Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy respect all creatures – big and small. Cockroaches play a very integral ecological role in their rainforest homes by helping to decompose forest litter and animal faecal matter and are, in turn, food for many other animals. Despite their hair-raising reputation, cockroaches undeniably play a vital role in the sustainability of plant and animal habitats.”

This advertising appeared to amuse some users. However, this approach did not sit well with a number of people.

Take a look at some of the reactions below:

It's to raise money for the zoo because of the loss during lockdowns. And do you not think the government has not disrespected we the Canadians. They are just letting their feeling out. You can make it and do nothing after that as well.

— Karoline (@Carolin59347528) January 19, 2023

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What the hell are you people thinking about. You're just adding to the general lack of respect that grows by the day in our society. Whoever came up with this and whoever approved it should be out on the street on their ass!

— Brian O'Connor (@TargetInView) January 17, 2023

How disgusting.

— Karen Montgomery (@KarenMo86794020) January 17, 2023

This is a terrible idea.

— lv (@louvegh) January 16, 2023

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