The folks at the Minnesota Zoo thought it would be a cute Valentine’s Day fundraiser: Name a bug after someone who bugs you, and have a zookeeper feed it to an animal on Feb. 14.

They had no idea the $15-per-bug fundraiser would turn political.

After news of the fundraiser spread on the online social platform Reddit, donors began contacting the zoo and making $15 donations to the Minnesota Zoo Foundation to have bugs named after President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, among others.

“That wasn’t something we anticipated at all,” said Sarah Lennander, the senior marketing communications manager with the Minnesota Zoo Foundation. “It didn’t once cross my mind that we would see names of people that, you know, people didn’t personally know. It’s kind of taken on a life of its own, and people are being creative.”

Zoo staff will send an e-card and message — personalized to the donor’s liking — to the recipient to tell them that a cricket, a roach, a mealworm, a wax worm or some other bug has been named after them.

As of Thursday afternoon, the Minnesota Zoo Foundation had received more than 1,000 donations from 19 countries and all 50 states.

“It’s just been hysterical, honestly,” Lennander said. “It’s such a pleasant surprise. People have been naming after their ex or a friend’s ex or just someone who bugs them.”

The Minnesota Zoo Foundation held a similar fundraiser in 2016 and raised about $3,000. This year’s fundraiser — which ends at 11:59 p.m. Friday — will far surpass that, she said.

The Minnesota Zoo feeds 10,000 mealworms, 9,000 crickets, 500 superworms and 250 waxworms a week to its bug-eating animals, including golden lion tamarins, panther chameleons, poison-dart frogs, turtles, opossums and hedgehogs, Lennander said.

“Bugs are a great source of protein and fat for our animals, and their exoskeleton functions a lot like fiber in their digestive system — like how a salad makes us feel full without overeating,” she said.

Lennander said the fundraiser has been so popular that she is planning to reprise it next year.

One dedication, in particular, has already inspired her for next year’s campaign, she said.

“Someone named a bug after ‘radiography exams,’” she said.

Donate $15 to the Minnesota Zoo Foundation before midnight Friday and zoo staff will name a bug after whomever you wish and feed it to an animal at the zoo.

For more information, go to mnzoofoundation.org/bug.