oddly enough

oddly enough

Name a roach after your ex for Valentine’s Day

NEW YORK

This Valentine’s Day, name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after your ex — or mother-in-law — or a loved one who’s an incredibly good sport.

The Name-a-Roach program was launched at the Bronx Zoo in 2011. Apparently, people still are coming out of the woodwork to participate.

The zoo said Monday that thousands of “hopeless” — or perhaps hapless — “romantics” have taken advantage of the strange sweetheart deal.

Each lucky recipient is emailed a colorful certificate. The $10 goes to the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The zoo’s website features a jarring glamour shot — a 2-inch-wide roach image, resplendent amid the rose petals.

Among the selling points: the creature’s “surprisingly high tolerance for radiation.”

The headline: “Seal it with a Hiss.”

2 deer stuck together; police use stun gun to free 1

SHOREWOOD, Minn.

Police in Minnesota used a stun gun to free a live buck that was stuck to a dead deer.

South Lake Minnetonka Police were called to the strange sight at a home in Shorewood in the Twin Cities area Sunday morning. The antlers of the two bucks were locked together. One deer was dead, and the other was thrashing around, trying to break free.

After assessing the situation, officers shocked the live deer with a Taser as residents helped quickly saw off one of its antlers. The deer ran off after coming to.

Patrol officer Ricky Syhre tells the Star Tribune the bucks probably were stuck together for hours.

The officers spoke with wildlife agencies about how they might safely untangle the bucks.

Think pink? UK campaign bus to draw women voters backfires

LONDON

Britain’s Labour Party has launched an election campaign targeting women voters, but its chosen vehicle, a bright-pink bus, has backfired even before it hit the road.

The bus’s color has drawn scorn and ridicule, with some calling it patronizing and sexist. Critics on Twitter compared it to a Barbie van or a bachelorette-party limo.

The opposition party, which says it will highlight policies on issues such as child care and domestic violence, hopes the bus will promote its “woman to woman” campaign and draw millions of women who didn’t vote in the last election.

Reacting to the backlash Wednesday, Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman said the idea was to make the bus “look conspicuous,” not patronizing. “Well, it doesn’t have big eyelashes on the front,” she added.

Associated Press