Greater East End coverage is funded in part by Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, raising the expectations of what a community hospital can be.
The odds of finding an orange lobster are about the same as becoming a U.S. president: roughly 1 in 30 million.
That’s why many were shocked when an orange lobster was discovered last month in the seafood section of the Southampton Stop & Shop on Long Island.
The ultra-rare crustacean arrived at the grocery store just before July 4 as part of a routine shipment of brown lobsters.
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Management quickly sought a new home for the unusual critter.
“Upon discovering the lobster, our Southampton store team worked quickly to identify a local organization that would be able to care for the lobster,” a Stop & Shop spokesperson said in a statement to the New York Post.
Through a connection made by the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation, Stop & Shop’s management decided to donate the brightly colored lobster to Humane Long Island, an animal protection organization based in Riverhead, to rehabilitate and eventually release it back into the wild.
The female lobster, now nicknamed Clementine, was released on Wednesday.
An ultra-rare “1-in-30 million” orange lobster was rescued from a Long Island Stop & Shop. Yesterday, the bright colored crustacean was released back to the wild.
— Greater Long Island 📰 (@Greater_LI) August 29, 2024
🎥: Humane Long Island pic.twitter.com/2CsVCqH1Ts
“Lobsters are sensitive, intelligent animals who can travel as far as 100 miles or more each year,” said John Di Leonardo, anthrozoologist and executive director of Humane Long Island. “Like all aquatic animals, lobsters experience pain and suffering when taken from their ocean homes to be eaten or confined to cramped aquariums.”
According to Nova Scotia Buzz, the orange lobster is the fifth rarest color among the species, with the “cotton candy” color being the rarest at 1 in 100 million.
Just last month, another orange lobster was found in the United States after being delivered to a Red Lobster restaurant in Pueblo, Colorado. That lobster, named “Crush,” is now living at the Downtown Aquarium in Denver, according to the Associated Press.
Photos of Clementine
Courtesy of Humane Long Island
