Want to Get Back at Your Ex? Name a Cockroach After Them And Watch a Meerkat Eat It on Valentine's Day

Cockroaches have become the unofficial mascot of Valentine's Day at a handful of U.S. zoos. At the Bronx Zoo in New York, you can pay to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after your beloved in celebration of the holiday ("give the gift that's eternal," they advertise). This year, the El Paso Zoo in Texas is offering a similar promotion, but with an unromantic twist: Ask them and they'll name a cockroach after your ex before feeding it to a meerkat on Valentine's Day, CBS News reports.

The El Paso Zoo writes on Facebook that their Quit Bugging Me event is "the perfect Valentine's Day gift." Message the zoo your ex's name on Facebook, and starting February 11, their first name and last initial will be displayed on social media and outside the meerkat exhibit.

On February 14, the unlucky bugs will be fed to the zoo's meerkats as part of their daily enrichment activities. Even if you don't feel compelled to get petty vengeance on an ex, you can still participate by watching a live stream of the event at 2:15 p.m. Mountain Time.

Zoos aren't the only places offering the public offbeat ways to celebrate Valentine's Day. The Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn gives free tours around the holiday, and White Castle accepts Valentine's reservations for full-service dinners.

[h/t CBS News]