'Eat a live cockroach, get in free'

A US halloween festival has sparked a row by offering free admission to anyone who eats a live, Madagascar hissing cockroach.

The stunt by the annual Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom's Fright Fest in Louisville has been met with protests of both child and animal cruelty.

Some say it targets poor children and is a form of child abuse, while an animal rights group says it's cruel to cockroaches.

But the amusement park claims to have received only a "minimal number of complaints" and has no intentions of canceling it, said park spokeswoman Carolyn Gaeta McLean.

"People complaining are not going to stop us," she told the Courier-Journal.

The promotion is going on at all Six Flags parks nationwide, though Kentucky Kingdom is the only one to offer free admission, she said. Other parks allow those who eat cockroaches to go to the front of the line.

McLean said each person who wants to eat a cockroach will have to sign a waiver, and children under 18 will need their parent or guardian to sign.

Philip Haming, a father of five children and a former teacher, said children should not be encouraged with a reward for performing a disgusting act.

"We have been teaching them all these years not to give in to peer pressure," he said. "I don't care what adults do."

And Peta spokeswoman Jackie Vergerio asked: "What is it teaching our children? A child who learns to respect a seemingly insignificant insect is a child that will grow up a compassionate person."