Clementine Is One In 30 Million And She's Going Home

Arriving with a shipment of traditional brown lobsters before July 4th, 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. The store initially sought to spare her from the pot, reportedly offering a pardon at the Long Island aquarium, however, the aquarium reportedly rebuffed her pardon, putting her back in harm’s way but leaving the door open for Humane Long Island to learn of her plight and whisk her back to her ocean home. 

After the Southampton Animal Shelter alerted Humane Long Island to the unusual crustacean, Humane Long Island’s executive director reached out to Stop & Shop management who quickly agreed to donate the rare lobster for rehabilitation and release to the wild. 

Humane Long Island consulted a veterinarian, readied a cold saltwater tank for rehabilitation, and set itself on reacclimating the lucky crustacean to the sea. 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.  

“Lobsters are sensitive, intelligent animals who can travel as far as 100 miles or more each year. Like all aquatic animals, lobsters will pain and suffer when taken from their ocean homes to be eaten or confined to cramped aquariums,” says John Di Leonardo, anthrozoologist and executive director of Humane Long Island. “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.” 

While the chance of finding an orange lobster is 1 in 30 million, rarer still is for one of them to be returned to the sea. Tens of billions of lobsters are trapped and killed annually, with even ultra rare orange, yellow, and blue lobsters being cooked  or confined to cramped aquariums as mere curiosities, like one less lucky orange lobster named “Crush” who was put on display at the Denver aquarium last month after being discovered at a Red Lobster restaurant. 

Humane Long Island notes that Switzerland, Norway, New Zealand, and the Italian city of Reggio Emilia have made it illegal to boil lobsters alive while they’re still conscious; however, boiling them at all is wholly unnecessary. Every person who goes vegan saves the lives of nearly 200 animals—including aquatic ones—every year. 

Humane Long Island is thanking the Southampton Stop & Shop for donating “Clementine”—formerly “Pinky” during her time at Stop & Shop—by sending management a gift-basket of lobster-shaped vegan chocolates and crabless vegan cakes along with PETA’s Vegan Starter Kit. 

To schedule an interview about Clementine, please contact John Di Leonardo at 516-592-3722 or John@humanelongisland.org.