notforsale

Larry the Lobster had a very close call, according to a story on Local10.com of Pembroke Park, Florida reports (http://tinyurl.com/larrylob). He is pictured, courtesy of Local10.com. The 110-year-old, 15-pound crustacean was brought to the owner of the Tin Fish restaurant in Sunrise, Florida, Joe Melluso, and he was ready to make poor Larry someone’s dinner if no one bought him by last Thursday.

But that’s when iRescue’s John Merritt swooped in, and several South Florida businesses and a woman from Maryland bought Larry (for $300) and are shipping him to safety at the Maine State Aquarium.

“When there was a group that wanted to save him, I was disappointed in myself, for not having that feeling myself,” Melluso noted, probably dreaming of drawn butter.

“I ran down to the beach, soaked a beach towel in salt water, had to package it, put it in my freezer for the night — all things that I never knew when you are trying to transport a live lobster,” Brooke Estren told Local10. Once he was laid out on a bed of ice and wrapped in the towel, he was ready to go. The aquarium will decide if Larry is going to be released, or become part of their exhibit.

“It’s something different that I’m proud of that we did,” rescue contributor Amir Rossi said. “How many people can actually say that they saved a lobster?”

— Elleda Wilson