SON OF HARRY HOPE
2006-09-29 20:23:06 UTC
Source: UPI
CHICAGO (UPI) -- An animal rights organization is asking a suburban
Chicago amusement park to cancel plans to hold a live cockroach-eating
contest next month.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it has been flooded
with calls and e-mails protesting the upcoming contest at Six Flags
Great America in Gurnee, Ill., the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Last week Six Flags announced that any visitor who ate a live,
three-inch Madagascar hissing cockroach at this year's Halloween
Fright Fest would receive a pass allowing them to go to the head of
the line for any ride in the amusement park.
In addition to the free pass offer, Six Flags said it planned to host
an open-invitation contest for those who wanted to try to break the
Guinness world record for the most baked Madagascar cockroaches eaten
in a single minute.
The current world record of 36 roaches was set five years ago.
"We're asking them to cancel (this) gratuitously cruel practice, which
is really just a tired gag from 'Fear Factor,'" says Jackie Vergerio,
a PETA spokeswoman.
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"I have often thought that if a rational Fascist dictatorship were to
exist, then it would choose the American system."
---Noam Chomsky (1928- ) US educator and linguist
CHICAGO (UPI) -- An animal rights organization is asking a suburban
Chicago amusement park to cancel plans to hold a live cockroach-eating
contest next month.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it has been flooded
with calls and e-mails protesting the upcoming contest at Six Flags
Great America in Gurnee, Ill., the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Last week Six Flags announced that any visitor who ate a live,
three-inch Madagascar hissing cockroach at this year's Halloween
Fright Fest would receive a pass allowing them to go to the head of
the line for any ride in the amusement park.
In addition to the free pass offer, Six Flags said it planned to host
an open-invitation contest for those who wanted to try to break the
Guinness world record for the most baked Madagascar cockroaches eaten
in a single minute.
The current world record of 36 roaches was set five years ago.
"We're asking them to cancel (this) gratuitously cruel practice, which
is really just a tired gag from 'Fear Factor,'" says Jackie Vergerio,
a PETA spokeswoman.
==================
"I have often thought that if a rational Fascist dictatorship were to
exist, then it would choose the American system."
---Noam Chomsky (1928- ) US educator and linguist