PETA not happy with Six Flags cockroach eating promotion

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/irresis ... etail.html

Eat Cockroach, Get Free Pass To Six Flags

POSTED: 7:26 am MDT September 21, 2006

GURNEE, Ill. -- Why wait in line when you can just eat a cockroach? That's the question Six Flags Great America is asking its thrill seekers during its Halloween-themed FrightFest. The amusement park is daring customers to eat a live Madagascar hissing cockroach in exchange for unlimited line-jumping privileges.

The promotion, which has Lake County Health Department officials shaking their heads, starts Oct. 7.

Anyone who chows down the entire 2- to 3-inch horned cockroach gets a pass for four people to cut to the front of ride lines through Oct. 29.

Park officials insist it's safe to eat the crunchy critters, but health officials are cautioning participants.

Consuming live roaches might increase risks of gastrointestinal illness and allergies, according to Bill Mays, Lake County Health Department's community health director.

Cockroach eaters will have to sign waivers and still pay admission fees, said Six Flags spokesman James Taylor.

The bug buffet continues with a cooked roach eating contest Oct. 13 - Friday, Oct. 13.

Taylor says he's hoping someone can beat the 2001 Guinness Book of World Records feat in which a British man downed 36 cockroaches.

"I've heard people say, 'Wow,"Ew,' a lot of one-worders," Taylor said. "A lot have said that they wouldn't eat a cockroach, but they sure would like to see someone else do it."

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... S10923.htm

PETA takes bite out of Six Flags cockroach munch

By Dan Moran DMORAN@SCN1.COM

GURNEE — One man's publicity stunt is apparently another man's outrage, as the activist group People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is calling on Six Flags Great America to cancel a live cockroach-eating contest planned for next month's Fright Fest.

"We have been flooded with calls and e-mails from all around the country about this," said PETA spokeswoman Jackie Vergerio, who studies issues related to animals used for entertainment.

Vergerio said late Friday that "we are in the midst right now of contacting all 12 Six Flags parks participating in (the cockroach-eating). We're asking them to cancel (this) gratuitously cruel practice, which is really just a tired gag from 'Fear Factor.'"

Six Flags officials announced this week that visitors to Fright Fest 2006 will be offered a chance to eat a live Madagascar hissing cockroach, a three-inch version of the Blattodea order that is native to the island of Madagascar, but raised on farms for use as pets and feed.

Those taking and successfully executing the challenge will be given four Fast Lane passes, which allow entry to the front of the line at any ride in the park. The eating will take place in the Southwest Territory's Mission Stage on a first-come, first-served basis.

In addition, on the night of Oct. 13, Great America plans to host an open-invitation attempt to break the Guinness world record for most Madagascar cockroaches — baked in this case, not live — eaten in a single minute. The record of 36 roaches has stood for the last five years.

In a letter dated Friday and addressed to Great America General Manager Hank Salemi, Vergerio described the concept as "barbaric" and wrote that PETA asks "that you consider the cruelty associated with this promotion and either cancel it or replace it with a harmless alternative."

"As a corporation that owns animal theme parks, Six Flags has no business encouraging the inhumane treatment of any animal," the letter states. "Presumably, the cockroach was chosen for this 'gag' because of the species' extremely negative image. However, this much-maligned invertebrate possesses keen senses, is quite docile, and has an amazing evolutionary history.

"Every creature on earth is ideally suited to its purpose, whether we know what that purpose is or not. It is unlikely that the purpose of Madagascar hissing cockroaches is to serve as appetizers for an unimaginative marketing scheme."

Great America Public Relations Manager Jim Taylor said Friday that he had not received the letter or heard of any animal-rights protests over the event, but he added that cockroaches are essentially no different from any other animal used as food in the park.

"It is important to point out that cockroaches do provide nutritional value. (They) are high in protein and they have no fat," Taylor said. "They are a common part of a lot of other diets in the world, (and) we do eat some things in this part of the world that might be frowned upon in other parts of the world."

Vergerio also questioned the practice of staging live bug-eating in front of children, writing that "Six Flags is meant to be a safe place for family fun, not a place to teach children insensitivity to animals of that 'might makes right.'"


Taylor said that the cockroach eatings are "not going to be forced on anybody," and he noted that Fright Fest will have two designated children's areas and a general theme that he described as "family by day, fright by night."

Taylor also pointed out that Great America and the other Six Flags parks staging the contest during their Fright Fests will not be the first to do so — Wild Waves & Enchanted Village, a Six Flags-owned park in suburban Seattle, had the same eat-and-ride promotion at its 2005 Fright Fest.

"Seattle tried it," he said, "and they actually ran out of cockroaches."

Opening day of Fright Fest is scheduled for Oct. 7, and it will be open Friday evenings through Sunday, along with Columbus Day, before closing on Oct. 29. For more information, visit www.sixflags.com/parks /greatamerica

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I have some fire-ants , lizards and a few fresh-water frogs living on my lawn .
I would like to donate them to Six Flags right now !
What about the armadillos - are they tasty ? - I think I have one too !
In China they eat everything - all anilmal parts are good .
We just need to start learning Chinese - it will be the second language after Spanish very soon - lol :D

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I'm so glad PETA is there to look after the sovereignty and well-being of abused cock-roaches.

Is there anybody out there that will look after ours?

:roll:

EEwweee.......I know eating insects isn't supposed to be that unusual......I just can't fathom it. There was a little film in one of my anthropology classes that had people wrapping these HUGE spiders in these leaves and cooking and eating them. Yuck! In this case......I'm definately a pickey eater.