‘Bug issue’ comic is no joke, insist insect lovers

A MAGAZINE that aims to instil a love of nature in youngsters has come under fire for killing tens of thousands of exotic bugs as a marketing gimmick.

Insect lovers have 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 & Insects, right.

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. And this is same thing, because they’re animals. It’s just a gimmick to get people to buy the magazine.’ He also claimed the ploy ‘encourages the idea 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. ‘These creatures are being killed for financial gain.’

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’.