Here’s news to chirp about: The Detroit Zoo is no longer importing crickets. Instead, the zoo is starting a cricket breeding program. And the nearly 2,000 hungry amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals at the zoo are plenty “hoppy” about the plan.
Scott Carter, the Detroit Zoo’s chief life sciences officer, says, “This breeding program guarantees an unlimited supply of healthy crickets for our animals and will result in significant cost savings.” The zoo expects to save about $225,000 in three years. Think about that: $225,000 saved, on bugs.
Workers transformed an unused upper floor of the zoo’s restaurant and dining area into cricket headquarters. Then 4,000 adult breeder crickets were brought in. From those first insects, the zoo has been “producing several hundred thousand little crickets every week.” What a racket!
Before, the Detroit Zoo purchased the insects from an Illinois cricket farm. The bugs made a three-state tour en route to the zoo, traveling on trucks from Illinois to Kentucky, then hopping a plane to Michigan.
Buying and shipping crickets is expensive. It cost more than $98,000 per year. That’s more than any other animal food at the zoo, including meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables.
Breeding crickets onsite gets rid of supply problems. It saves shipping costs and helps the environment—no packing materials, fuel consumption, or transportation-related nature hazards.
Detroit Zoo officials are pleased about the benefits. But the monkeys, lizards, frogs, and other zoo dwellers simply munch on the tasty leaping treats.
Live insects are fun to eat, say zoo officials. Experts have declared crickets to be nutritious, offering vitamins and protein. Their exoskeletons are rich in calcium and fiber. (We’ll just take their word for it.)
"Some animals, like amphibians and reptiles, are motivated to eat by something that moves," says Carter. "Because the crickets move, it also makes them an appealing food."
God made all things, including insects. As Creator, He declared every creature—the ants and the crickets, and yes, even the cockroaches—to be “good.” (See Genesis 1.)
Exercising responsible dominion over God’s creation is a beautiful reflection of His creativity, wisdom, and care. The zoo cricket breeding seems just that: an imaginative and prudent solution to a real-life problem.
