Pat them down, Sgt. Kelly.
Not too hard.
You don’t want to kill any hissing roaches or centipedes.
Yes, in other cities bugs are stomped-on, sprayed or swatted.
In Philadelphia, they’re stolen.
Who knew bugs can be valuable? We learned that bugs worth $40,000 were taken in an inside job this past summer from the Insectarium, a kids’ museum on Frankfort Avenue in Torresdale.
Just last week we posted a story on this blog describing the enormous federal battle to kill Japanese beetles first seen in the United States across the Delaware in Riverton, N.J. Certainly, huge amount of cash are spent every year to kill agricultural pests.
But there are collectors for everything – including rare insects.
An exterminator – Steve’s Bug-Off – opened the museum on the second-floor of his office in 1992. The center piece was a modern kitchen – surrounded by some sort of electrical barrier – containing hundreds of cockroaches.
Today both floors are museum space and the new featured attraction is a live butterfly exhibit.
Security cameras inside and in the parking lot revealed young employees walking off with the valuable bugs and a few reptiles. We assume the villains were juveniles because the police have never released the names of those arrested.
There is a spider in my bathroom. Wonder how much a collector would pay for it?