Vancouver Residents Save Century-Old Lobster from the Pot
July 27, 2008 · Print This Article
Lobsters – those poor little ‘sea bugs’ that so many people just can’t get enough of. I remember cringing in horror as a child when my seafood-loving New England family would throw the poor things into the pots, knowing they were still alive and leaving the room so I didn’t have to hear that dreaded ‘screaming’ sound they make when the steam starts to escape their shells. I always wanted to save them – but it’s tough to do when you’re a kid surrounded by adults salivating over the idea of eating the rubbery creatures. So, I’m happy to hear that some good Samaritans out in Vancouver were able to save a 22-lb, 100-year-old lobster from a similar fate.
From Green Daily:
Big Dee-Dee was caught off New Brunswick, Canada last week, and had been arousing interest from both conservationists and connisseurs of cooked crusteaceans. The owner of the the aptly named Big Fish shop where Dee-Dee was temporarily living had received more than 100 offers to buy the old boy, including one who would have paid a cool 5 grand to fly him to Ontario to be guest of honour at a company banquet.
However, all’s well that ends well and next week a marine biologist will pack Dee-Dee up in a truck and take him down to the ocean, where he will be returned to the wet and wild from whence he came. After which he will likely get wander into another trap and end up back at the Big Fish, because lobsters aren’t really all that smart. But it’s still a happy ending, for now.
The Green Daily provided an update on July 21st, saying that the owner of Big Fish decided to donate Dee-Dee to an aquarium, fearing that a return to the cold water would kill him.
Hurray for Dee-Dee! Anything that’s managed to live that long should be left to live its life in peace.
Link [Green Daily]
Photo credit: Flickr user Gill Rickson
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To be honest Dee-Dee would be inedible. Lobsters of that size and age are completely and totally rubbery and tough. The meat starts to get tough and stringy as it grows to hold the weight of the shell, not to mention to combat the pressure of living at the bottom of the sea.
I’m glad he was “conserved” Lobsters are becoming scarcer and scarcer now adays.
When my mom was a kid on an island in the middle of the Bay of Fundy, Lobsters were so common they were crawling up the beaches in the harbor where any “Poor man” could pick em up, and cook them for a lunch. The kid with a lobster sandwich was a target of ridicule in school when mom was a kid.
Funny how times change eh?