In the age of influencers and trends, it seems there’s no limit to how far organisations will go to cash in on public sentiment. The latest in 'revenge' gimmicks is the 'No regRATS' fundraiser, where donors can name a rat after their ex and have them fed to an owl in exchange for a monetary donation. Advertised as a cathartic way to rid oneself of past heartbreak, this campaign is not only tasteless but also deeply speciesist and ethically disturbing.
At its core, this fundraiser is built on the commodification of nonhuman lives for entertainment. Encouraging people to name a rat after their former partner (or indeed, anyone they dislike deeply) and then revel in an animal's death is a perverse blend of speciesism and callousness. Rats are highly intelligent, social animals who are capable of forming bonds and even displaying empathy. To reduce them to mere symbols of human vengeance is a blatant dismissal of their intrinsic worth.
While some may argue that feeding rodents to owls is a natural process, there is nothing natural about turning it into a spectacle for human amusement. The fact that people are willing to pay for an animal to be killed simply because of a failed relationship reflects an alarming normalisation of violence against the most vulnerable beings. Then again, most are happy to pay for this everyday as part of the omni-lifestyle.
Speciesism—the belief that some animals are more worthy of moral consideration than others—is at the heart of this campaign. If an organization were to suggest naming dogs or cats after exes and having them killed for Valentine’s Day entertainment, the public outcry would be deafening. But because rats are unfairly dubbed as 'pests', their suffering is dismissed as inconsequential.
Owls, too, are exploited in this fundraiser; reduced to props in a marketing stunt, reinforcing the idea that animals exist for human use rather than as beings with their own lives and interests.
This fundraiser plays into a culture that trivialises violence and promotes cruelty as a form of humour. The message it sends is that harming others—human or nonhuman—is a valid way to cope with personal grievances.
Rather than donating to an organization that turns animal deaths into a joke, people who genuinely care about wildlife conservation should seek out ethical sanctuaries and rescues that promote co-existence and compassion. Animals are not tools for revenge, and cruelty should never be a source of amusement.