Monday, January 12, 2009

Free the lobster

An 80 year old lobster is headed back to the ocean now that a Manhattan restaurant gave in to please from animal rights activists.

George the 20 pound lobster, estimated at 80 years old, will be driven north to New Hampshire where a crustacean expert will "ease his transition" back to the wild before releasing him in protected waters near Kennebunkport, Maine.

The restaurant manager and executive chef said George was never going to be served, instead he served as a mascot.

A lot of to-do over a lobster.

The latest report says George is back in the ocean.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

An 80-year old lobster? How long do they live. Doesn't seem like he'll be able to make the transfer easily. Imagine taking an 80-year old person who has lived in Alaska and taking them to Florida.

Anonymous said...

Sounds to me like some "well-intentioned" people may be condemning George to death. The key is what is meant by "protected waters". Last time I checked there weren't any MPAs near Kennebunkport, Maine, in which an 80-year old lobster would be protected from "harvest" (take). Please set me straight if I'm wrong.

Anonymous said...

The lobster has only been at the restaraunt since New Year's Eve... the transition should not take long or be difficult. Why was he there in the first place? Free Willy!

Mark Powell said...

That lobster will probably find itself back in a trap fairly soon, since there are no good lobster habitats in Maine where there are no lobster traps. Exploitation rates are high, so he will probably be caught again within a few years.

If he survivied being dropped into a strange environment, then it will probably be a short stay until he's on another dinner plate.