lol @ PETA

[Infinity]

PETA takes bite out of Six Flags ****roach munch

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 ****roach-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 ****roach-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 ****roach, 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 ****roaches — 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 ****roach 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 ****roaches 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 ****roaches are essentially no different from any other animal used as food in the park.

"It is important to point out that ****roaches 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 ****roach 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 ****roaches."

(source) http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/n...AGS_S10923.htm
I saw this on the news last night and lmao'd
Just thought I'd share

EDIT - wtf, never thought that roaches were a censored word, lol

[Fox]

Pretty good stuff. ^_^ lol.

[Naegling]

This is kind of sad... (-_-;)

Yes, no animal should be mistreated, but I think that are/should be higher priorities than a species that been around since dinosuars and will probably survive on after us, humans.

[KiraRin]

Lol, that was quite amusing. Some of these rights campaigners take things a little too far. On Sunday, one of the UK's largest airports was closed for 4 hours because of protesters.

The way the country is with aircraft after the recent security alerts, you would think people would have more sense, but apparently not. They used wire cutters to get access to the runway, and then a priest preached about global warming and the fact that aircraft are adding to this. Then they prayed for the people who have died as an effect of global warming....

Weirdos...

H.

[prh99]

On the subject of PETA, Penn and Teller
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...99390200944075

It's not work safe and if you're offend by harsh language I wouldn't watch it.