SOUTHAMPTON, NY — A rare, 1-in-30-million orange lobster was rescued from a Southampton supermarket and given a second chance at life recently, an animal advocacy organization said.
According to John Di Leonardo, anthrozoologist and executive director of Humane Long Islan, the lobster was spotted in the seafood section of a Southampton Stop & Shop by a staff from the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation.
The chances of catching an orange lobster are one-in-30 million, according to Markus Frederich, professor of marine science at the University of New England. The lobsters can become orange through genetic mutation.
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Arriving with a shipment of traditional brown lobsters before July 4, the rare orange lobster—now affectionately named “Clementine”— was immediately a celebrity at the Southampton grocery store — being fed shrimps by store management and being nicknamed “Pinky” by the manager’s young daughter, Di Leonardo said.
After the Southampton Animal Shelter alerted Humane Long Island to the crustacean, Di Leonardo said he reached out to Stop & Shop management, who quickly agreed to donate the rare lobster for rehabilitation and release it to the wild.
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Tracy McLaren, trap, neuter and release specialist at the Southampton Animal Shelter, said she’d read about the lobster when a sea of residents started discussing its plight online on Nextdoor.
“Everyone was giving suggestions but nothing was really being done, so I went there myself on Saturday morning and saw the lobster in the tank.”
McLaren said she made a flurry of calls, including to Karen Testa of the Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons, who wanted to help, but told McLaren that her facility was full.
Next, she reached out to Di Leonardo — and he was there within the hour with surrender papers. “Someone had to go down and do something, so I did,” McLaren said. “Within 45 minutes, John (Di Leonardo) had the surrender papers.”
She added that as a vegetarian, protecting all animals is critical to her. “I feel so guilty, rescuing just one and not the rest,” she said. She added that she hopes the story will raise awareness and that people can “do without these lobster bakes,” and save the crustaceans.
Of the rescue, she said, “I’m so, so happy.”
Humane Long Island consulted a veterinarian, readied a cold saltwater tank for rehabilitation, and set itself on re-acclimating the crustacean to the sea, Di Leonardo said.
“Within hours, Clementine was swimming, foraging, and exploring the Long Island Sound, playfully following us around before disappearing into the ocean depths where she’ll travel as far as 100 miles or more each year,” he said.
Di Leonardo added: “Lobsters are sensitive, intelligent animals. Like all aquatic animals, lobsters will feel pain and suffer when taken from their ocean homes to be eaten or confined to cramped aquariums.”
He added: “Humane Long Island urges everyone to celebrate Clementine’s successful journey back to the wild by respecting all lobsters and not eating them, because no compassionate person should boil an animal alive.”
Humane Long Island thanked the Southampton Stop & Shop for donating the lobster by sending management a gift-basket of lobster-shaped vegan chocolates and crabless vegan cakes along with PETA’s vegan starter kit.
Stop & Shop media representatives said the storm team partnered with Humane LI, who picked up the lobster to “care for” the crustacean and prepare it for release; they added that the outcome was “great!”
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