Free Larry! Man buys 17lbs monster lobster from restaurant's fish tank
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...eases-sea.html
A massive 17-pound lobster has been purchased and released from a restaurant's fish tank this week to the cheers of local children.
Don MacKenzie of Niantic, Connecticut said he knew that the lobster, nicknamed by the kids as 'Lucky Larry,' would have to be about 80-years-old to reach its current size and felt the town’s most-talked-about star deserved to live.
'This lobster has seen World War I, World War II, seen the landing on the moon and the Red Sox win the World Series. He's made it this far in life,' Mr MacKenzie told The Day of New London.
'For a lobster to live this long and avoid lobster traps, nets, lobster pots ... he doesn't deserve a bib and butter.'
First hearing about the lobster by the area's children who visited Larry at the Dock Restaurant in Waterford, Mr MacKenzie took interest, especially after rumour got out that someone had reserved him for an upcoming lobster dinner.
Up until then he had been cradled by restaurant manager Kristen Eighme to show the curious kids, with scratches on her arms she said to prove it.
Mr MacKenzie won't say how much he paid the restaurant to take Larry off the menu on Tuesday, instead telling the paper: 'Let's just say that it's the most expensive lobster I never ate.’
He took the lobster back to sea on Tuesday, releasing it in a secret location, where he said it would be almost impossible for fishermen to drag their nets.
'They drag during the day, so if he does venture out of this area, hopefully it will be at night,' said Steve Wilson, who works with Mr MacKenzie at a local marina and helped him set Larry free.
With a send-off from a group of children chanting 'Let Larry Live,' the lobster was also given a salute from the Niantic River Bridge operator who sounded the lift bridge's siren as the boat carrying it headed to sea.
Mr Mackenzie did keep a memento of the experience, however: two thick rubber bands that had been wrapped around Larry's claws to keep him from pinching anyone.
Asked what he thinks Larry would say if he could talk, Mr Mackenzie replied with a smile:
'I think we'd be getting a Hallmark card sometime next week from him.
