140-Year-Old Lobster Freed From New York Restaurant
A lobster, thought to be up to 140 years old, is to be released into the Atlantic Ocean, after briefly becoming an unconventional mascot at a New York City restaurant.
PETA found out about the plight of the 20 pound crustacean when a diner at NYC’s City Crab & Seafood called to say it was being kept in the diner’s tank. PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk praised the restaurant, saying, “We applaud the folks at City Crab and Seafood for their compassionate decision to allow this noble old-timer to live out his days in freedom and peace.”
- » See also: Invasion of the Fish Snatchers?
- » Get Planetsave by RSS or sign up by email.
Manager Keith Valenti bought the lobster for $100, with the intention of making it a mascot, after the 20 pound creature was landed off the coast of Canada. He said a lobster’s age can be calculated from its weight, with each pound equating to 7 to 10 years. Valenti said it was fairly frequent for lobsters to live for more than 100 years but it was uncommon for them to be caught because they were generally too large to fit in the baskets.
Valenti told reporters, “We bought a big lobster, started taking pictures with kids and it worked out real well,” before adding that it was a “no brainer” to return the old crustacean to the ocean.
Now, whether the lobster would have been freed from captivity if its plight has not been publicised is another matter. I suspect that, if it wasn’t for the actions of the mystery diner, the poor old thing would most likely have spent the remainder of its days as a cheap tourist attraction.
Image Credit - Gaetan Lee via flickr.com on a Creative Commons license
[...] restaurant in nyc caught called on using an old-timer as a mascot in their restaurant. they have agreed he should be set free to live out his last years in peace, and water. beautiful, [...]
What a miraculous creature! I’m so elated she/he didn’t simply wind up being boiled alive for the momentary satiating pleasure of a homo sapien. I’ve never seen a picture of a 140+ year old lobster! Good news!
-Vaughn
The whole thing is ridiculous! The lobster has been in captivity for over a dozen years, probably eating better than lobsters in the wild, most likely has lost it’s ability to sense predatory danger and may lack evasive experience as part of it’s defense mechanism. Aside from predatory demise, poor George may sooner starve to death waiting for his meals to come floating down out of the sky. Will he be able to adapt to his new environment without succumbing to shock? Not to mention the presence of pollutants not found in his former environment. This is a example of misguided human compassion run amok and ultimately an illogical action. I don’t think Ms Newkirk took the time to think this through and reacted upon emotion and self image which obviously made headlines. I wonder if the two alerting customers were as concerned for the poor creatures that died for sake of their dinners.