We live in a society that often demonstrates its feelings by symbolic gestures. Valentine’s is usually a day of positive feelings or demonstrations of love and affection towards your significant other or spouse. Unfortunately, for those individuals who are in the middle of a divorce or a break-up, such kind of romantic feelings may seem far away. It may seem impossible to ever rekindle those feelings again. Sometimes, a symbolic gesture may be what is needed to put your ex behind you and to get on with your life.
The zoo in El Paso, Texas, this Valentine’s Day is providing this type of symbolic ritual. You can give yourself a present this Valentine’s Day. The El Paso Zoo will name a cockroach after your ex and then feed it to a meerkat live on Facebook camera. You can message the zoo on Facebook with your ex’s first name and the initial of his or her last name, then wait patiently for February 14 to watch the cockroach, named for your ex, get devoured during the “Quit Bugging Me” meerkat event. The event will be live streamed on Facebook on the zoo’s website. Names of the ex’s will also be displayed around the meerkat exhibit and on social media starting February 11, 2019. The zoo calls it “The Perfect Valentine’s Day Gift”. The El Paso Zoo is not the only zoo that has participated in this type of event. The Hemsley Conservation Center in Kent, England, has also named cockroaches after people’s exes in exchange for a donation. Another zoo in the United States which has participated in such an event is the Bronx Zoo. To learn more about this event, please click here.
If you believe that your symbolic gesture needs to be more substantial, then you may be inclined to participate in the service offered by the Wildlife Images Rehabilitation Center in Oregon. For a donation of $20.00, they will name a salmon which they will then, on Valentine’s Day or any other day of your choice, feed to one of their 700-pound brown bears, Kodi and Yak. Your symbolic need for a substantial ending may be more gratified by watching the bear tear apart the salmon and eat it. For an additional donation, you can also receive an individual picture of the bear symbolically ripping apart and “devouring your ex” and other memorabilia of the event. Wildlife Images does this event year-round. So, consequently if you are feeling the need for that symbolic release sometime later in the year, you may want to visit the Wildlife Images by clicking here.
