Love Bites: Zoos Let You Feed Your Ex to a Raptor (Kind Of)

Animal shelters and zoos across the U.S. are offering darkly humorous Valentine’s Day fundraisers for those looking to vent about their exes while supporting a cause. Options include naming a feral cat after an ex before it’s neutered, or having a cockroach or rodent named after them before it gets fed to a larger animal.

In Alaska, one woman paid $100 to name a frozen rat after her ex, which was then fed to a raptor at the Bird Treatment and Learning Center. The campaign raised over $18,000, with 130 rats purchased—so many that the center temporarily ran out of stock.

Other zoos offer similar anti-love initiatives, such as mealworms fed to crows or magpies for $10, or the Memphis Zoo’s “Dating or Dumping” campaign, where donors can either honor a loved one with a red panda eating a grape or roast an ex with a video of an elephant pooping.

Participants see these as cathartic and entertaining ways to cope with breakups, with some encouraging friends to contribute to ensure their ex gets an extra “stinky” shout-out.

https://apnews.com/article/valentines-day-animal-shelters-fundraisers-rats-elephants-40537881d8f5ad65dd971fef11a856f5