RIVERHEAD, N.Y. – A 1-in-30-million orange lobster was returned to the sea on Tuesday, after it was discovered in a New York supermarket, according to the animal advocacy group Humane Long Island.
Now named “Jean-Clawd Van Dam,” the lobster was quite a unique crustacean, as most American lobsters are either greenish-brown or olive-green, according to NOAA. The animals only turn red or red-orange after they are cooked.
Recently shared footage shows Jean-Clawd in a tank in a supermarket in Rochester, New York, and then released into the Long Island Sound by Humane Long Island Executive Director John Di Leonardo.
Jean-Clawd Van Dam, the lobster.
(John Di Leonardo, Humane Long Island / TMX / FOX Weather)
“Lobsters are sensitive, intelligent animals who can travel as far as 100 miles or more each year,” Di Leonardo said. “Like all aquatic animals, lobsters feel pain and suffer when taken from their ocean homes to be eaten or confined to cramped aquariums.”
Humane Long Island said in a statement that countries including Switzerland, Norway and New Zealand, along with the city of Reggio Emilia in Italy, passed a law that made boiling lobsters alive and while still conscious illegal.
The organization noted that boiling the animals is “wholly unnecessary.”
RARE ‘COTTON CANDY’ LOBSTER FOUND OFF NEW HAMPSHIRE, MAINE COAST
With this week’s rescue, Jean-Clawd was able to escape that fate and continue his life as an orange diamond in the rough.
“100 million lobsters are trapped and killed in the US annually, with even ultra-rare orange, yellow, and blue lobsters being cooked or confined to cramped aquariums as mere curiosities,” Humane Long Island officials said.
Buckets of American lobsters.
(NOAA / FOX Weather)
“All lobsters are sentient and want to live, whether they’re orange, blue, or traditional brown,” they added.
The American Lobster habitat stretches from Newfoundland in southeast Canada down to North Carolina, NOAA said. About 80% of lobster catches come from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine.
