Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work!
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
A zoo in Poland has made an unusual offer for Valentine’s Day, allowing broken-hearted people to adopt a cockroach, name it after their ex, and – if they purchase the “VIP package” – personally feed the insect to a meerkat.
“Valentine’s Day is coming up soon and you’ve just been through a breakup?” wrote the zoo in Łódź, Poland’s fourth-largest city, on its website. “Don’t worry! Łódź Zoo will help you get through this difficult time by offering an unconventional solution.”
The zoo then offers three options. A basic package, priced at 50 zloty (€12), allows someone to adopt a Madagascar cockroach and name it (“maybe after an ex-partner,” suggests the zoo).
The premium package, costing 100 zloty, additionally allows the person to receive “a photograph of the moment when your ex…ahem…cockroach is eaten by one of the animals living in the zoo”. Finally, the VIP package, for 150 zloty, allows the person to “personally feed the insect to a meerkat living at the zoo”.
The zoo says that all funds raised through the initiative will be allocated to the protection of endangered species living at the institution.
The Valentine’s initiative in Łódź follows similar ones in the US. Since 2011, the Bronx Zoo has allowed people to name a cockroach in return for a $15 donation. Since 2020, San Antonio Zoo has allowed people to name a cockroach, rodent or vegetable after someone and then have it fed to an animal.
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Zoo Łodź
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
