Bronx Zoo Calling On 'Hopeless Romantics' To Name A Roach For Valentine's Day
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Calling all hopeless romantics: The Bronx Zoo has an offer you can't refuse.
This Valentine's Day, you can name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after your ex, mother-in-law or a loved one who's an incredibly good sport.
EXTRAS: Valentine's Day Gift Ideas | Best Date Night Shows For Valentine's Day
Each name costs $10, which goes to the Wildlife Conservation Society, and each lucky recipient is emailed a colorful certificate.
The zoo said Monday that thousands of "hopeless romantics'' have taken advantage of the strange sweetheart deal and said it has plenty of roaches to name with thousands of bugs on exhibit.
"What a better way to say, 'I love you' than by naming a roach after someone you love," spokesman John Calvelli told 1010 WINS. "The thought was is flowers and chocolate are fleeting, but cockroaches are forever."
The zoo's website features a jarring glamour shot, a 2-inch-wide roach image, resplendent amid the rose petals. The headline: "Seal it with a Hiss.''
Madagascar hissing roaches are the world's largest roach species, reaching nearly four-inches long, according to the zoo. Among its selling points: the creature's "surprisingly high tolerance for radiation.''
"There is a sense of cockroaches can live though anything, so they are, in a sense, eternal," Calvelli said. "And that's how love should be -- eternal."
The Name-a-Roach program was first launched in 2011.
For more information, visit www.bronxzoo.com/roach.
(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
