The Bug Issue
Children’s magazine gives away dead creepy-crawlies on its cover – to stinging rebuke from insect lovers
A MAGAZINE that aims to instil a l ove of nature i n youngsters has come under fire for killing tens of thousands of exotic bugs as a marketing gimmick.
Insect lovers have also criticised the Natural History Museum for giving its backing to the ‘mass killing’ of the creepy-crawlies, which are encased in resin and mounted on to the cover of Real Life Bugs And Insects.
Sixty issues of the magazine are planned, each sold with a different bug, including wasps, beetles, scorpions and spiders. Each issue is expected to sell thousands of copies.
But zoologist Ross Piper, an insect expert who regularly appears on TV, said: ‘You would not give a kitten encased in plastic resin away with a magazine. This is a gimmick to get people to buy the magazine.’
He also claimed that the ploy ‘encourages the i dea that insects are just like stamps that can be collected’.
Britain’s leading insect conservation charity, Bug Life, criticised the Natural History Museum for endorsing the magazine. ‘The museum should not be providing the public face for an operation that imports and distributes possibly tens of thousands of dead insects,’ a spokesman said.
He acknowledged that scientists kill small numbers of bugs for study, but added: ‘When you’re mass killing like this for a giveaway with a magazine, it is not justifiable.
‘These creatures are being killed for financial gain.’
The magazine, published under the National Geographic banner, has been launched with adverts on children’s TV channels. It shows a cartoon scorpion scurrying along before being encased in clear plastic for the magazine. The title is available in toy stores and newsagents, with each issue normally priced at £5.99.
Despite the criticism, experts at the Natural History Museum say they have endorsed the magazine – and its dead bug giveaway – because it has ‘educational benefits’.
Max Barclay, who manages the museum’s beetles collection, said in a blog post defend- ing the magazine: ‘I know from daily experience the power of natural history collections to inspire awe and fascination.
‘A collection like the one this magazine provides, in the hands of a curious young person, is a valuable learning tool, and likely to engender serious interest.’
He said that collecting the bugs was no worse than ‘buying a packet of frozen prawns’, which are invertebrates just like insects.
Bug Life has also raised concerns about where the insects are coming from.
The Natural History Museum insists the insects are farmed in China and humanely ‘gassed’ to avoid any suffering when killed. But Matt Shardlow, Bug Life’s chief executive, suspects that they are being taken from the wild, which could damage the local environment.
‘A number of the bugs are
‘Mass killing like this can’t be justified’
just not possible to farm because of the way their life cycle runs,’ he said. ‘The stag beetle is a larvae for seven years and then only lives as an adult for a few weeks.
‘Who is going to set up a farm seven years in advance for the quantity of stag beetles they are using?
‘And we know that bountyhunting for insects operates on an industrial scale in China.’
A spokesman for the Natural History Museum said last night that a condition of its partnership with Real Life Bugs And Insects was that ‘the preserved insects are not endangered or threatened species, and that the insects are bred, farmed or harvested in a sustainable way’.
A spokesman for the magazine publishers RBA said: ‘All the arthropods in this collection come from specialised, purpose-built farms, and the breeders who work for the RBA can certify that none of these specimens were taken from the natural environment.’