Helin Jung / PeoplePets.com
PeoplePets.com reports that the campaign to save Larry the Lobster began about a week ago when Ryan Sutton, a reporter who covers restaurants for the Bloomberg news service, penned a column about the senior crustacean, who lives in his own tank at Oceana in Rockefeller Center. The name "Larry" was given to him by Sutton's editor. Larry's age was determined by his weight; he clocks in at 11 pounds.
In his column, Sutton claims that the thought of eating another living creature "probably born before World War II" led him to wonder why he's never considered the age or history of any other meat he's eaten: "There's something humbling about consuming flesh from an animal that's given its life, involuntarily, for me, the diner."
After Sutton's story was published, readers sent in e-mails suggesting that a "freedom fund" be set up for Larry. One respondent even offered to buy Larry's entire tank for the purpose of releasing him. The restaurant also received a couple dozen phone calls and e-mails.
Oceana managing partner Paul McLaughlin agreed to voluntarily send Larry back to Maine's coastal waters. The attention Larry garnered may also put an end to the restaurant's recent decision to order bigger and bigger shellfish from its seafood purveyors. McLaughlin claimed that his clientele, made up mostly of lawyers and bankers, had begun requesting larger helpings of lobster.
"Obviously, you don't see that size lobster everyday, but large lobsters are delivered all over the city without fanfare," McLaughlin was quoted by Peoplepets.com. "Why this has raised an eyebrow, we're not entirely sure, but so be it."
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free larry! and every other living being lined up for food or fur.
Why on earth would you return him to the wild? Lobster fishing happens so much there that he's bound to get caught again...he'd be safer in an oceanarium.
I am a lobsterman in Gloucester, MA. I am very happy they are returning "Larry" to the ocean. We need larger lobsters like these to help keep the lobster population healthy because they produce far more, and more viable, offspring. Also, "larry" will not be able to be caught and kept again. He is far to large to fit in most lobster traps and would only be caught by a dragger, but either way there are maximum size limits now and he would be above them and would have to be thrown back.
Yet I can buy 10 pound lobsters any day in the Chinese fish markets of Los Angeles for about $60. The Palms restaurant in West Hollywood has the shell of a 40 pound lobster they once served mounted on their wall - and they get 15-20 pound ones fairly often. How old is a 40 pound lobster?
can I just say bankers and lawyers, always needing more and more and bigger and bigger - just plain old greed and only thinking of themselves, poor lobsters, stop eating them, you know their mothers hold their offsprings claws when they are little
Andi, I agree completely!
i agree i think someone should adopt him ,we save cats and dogs why not larry
That is so true ....donate him to a zoo that has a beautiful aquarium. At least we know grandpa will be safe there :)
People, people, people... It is a lobster!! How about caring about creating jobs and recovering our once stellar economy.
Yea that is true. Ur rite on that, he is gona get caught again that should do something about that.
are you kidding. its a bug. yep a old bug. coper based blood not human. probably best used in some kind of crab boil. with old busch beer. find a worth while cause, get on with the reel work that you need to do.
Amy,
About the lawyers and bankers. You should apologize for your comment as the vast majority of us, New Yorkers are now Democrats. Your speech is not free speech, it is hate speech. You can absolve your self by reposting and directing your remarks at Republicans only. Obama, President for Life! Obama, for ever!
I am glad Larry did not end up on the diner table, BUT, in reality, he will be trapped again by fisherman and probably wont be so lucky the nex time. he should have gone to an aquarium somewhere to live out his life, not set free to be trapped again.
Put Larry in an Aquarium....not the ocean..he will most likely die there with nor protection....get a clue !!!!!
I agree with Andi. Larry has live most of his in a tank with his claws restrained. He can no longer survive in what should be his natural habitat. Let Larry live out the rest of his life in the environment he knows and for God saqke take the rubber band off his claws.
You obviously don't know anything about lobster fishing. The chances of Larry getting caught again are slim to none off the coast of Maine. Lobsters, like most sea creatures drift with the tides and currents, they don't just sit there waiting to be caught. Larry could end up in Canada or down in Rhode Island. Glad to see that Larry is going back.
Larry belongs in the ocean, how would you like for someone else to decide that you could not go home but would have to spend the rest of your life in a tank. Wild animals belong in the wild with other animals of their kind. Let Larry make other beautiful lobsters.
Yes Larry is just a lobster but also he is a famous lobster maybe he should be taken to a zoo, what does everyone think?
JNR: you're obviously an idiot. Amy said nothing of political affiliation. How is what she said hate speech? She didn't target one side or another, simply lawyers and bankers. Sounds like you have a guilty conscience here.
Democrats are just as guilty of being fatcats as Republicans. Politicians and most lawyers and bankers are one in the same. A bunch of corrupt, money-hungry, look out for #1, type of a-holes that contribute nothing to the betterment of our country.
As for Obama for life.....you can have him for life.....IN ANOTHER COUNTRY THAT'S NOT AMERICA!
President for life goes against everything this country is about. Take your socialist agenda and go somplace else with it. Just another lamebrain moron trying to justify the bull that's going on.
you are soooo right. he will be caught again. 11 pound lobsters are not exactly nimble. then again it took 70 years to get this far.