Ultra-rare orange lobster named 'Clementine' rescued from New York store

The orange lobster, Clementine. Credit: Humane Long Island/ Facebook

An "ultra rare" orange lobster named Clementine has been rescued from a New York supermarket by an animal rights group.

Clementine was rescued in July by Humane Long Island from a branch of the US grocery store chain Stop and Shop in Long Island.

There is a one in 30 million chance of lobster being orange, the group said.

The lobster became a local celebrity at the store, where management fed it shrimp and nicknamed it “Pinky”.

The store had asked its local aquarium to take Clementine but the request was declined, Humane Long Island said.

The ultra rare 1-in-30-million orange lobster. Credit: Humane Long Island/ Facebook

Southampton Animal Shelter then intervened, and alerted the animal campaign group about Clementine.

Humane Long Island said the Stop and Shop "quickly agreed to donate the rare lobster for rehabilitation" in order to give Clementine "a natural life".

The group said it consulted a veterinarian, and prepared a cold saltwater tank for rehabilitation in an effort to release the lobster into the wild so she could "do lobster things" rather than end up "on someone's plate".

"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," the group said.

Orange lobster released into the wild. Credit: Humane Long Island/ Facebook

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John Di Leonardo, anthrozoologist and executive director of Humane Long Island, said: "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."

The group added: "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."

Humane Long Island has encouraged its social media followers to adopt a vegan lifestyle to help protect animals like Clementine from being eaten.

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