[f1000]

Bubba the Leviathan Lobster Dies at Zoo

PITTSBURGH - He dodged lobster pots for decades, endured a trip from the coast of Massachusetts to Pittsburgh and survived about a week in a fish market. But a trip to the zoo proved to be too much for a 22-pound lobster named Bubba.

The leviathan of a lobster died Wednesday afternoon at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium about a day after he was moved from Wholey's Market, said zoo spokeswoman Rachel Capp and Bob Wholey, owner of the fish market.

"They're very finicky. It could have been a change in the water. You have no idea," said Wholey.

Bubba died in a quarantine area of the zoo's aquarium, where he was being checked out to see if he was healthy enough to make a trip to an aquarium at a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, Capp said.

Bubba will be examined to try to figure out why he died, although Capp and Wholey guessed it may have been the stress of being moved.

Based on how long it typically takes a lobster to reach eating size � about five to seven years to grow to a pound � some estimated Bubba was about 100 years old. But marine biologists said 30 to 50 years was more likely.

Other large lobsters didn't fare well after they were caught, too.

In 1985, a 25-pound lobster that the New England Aquarium planned to give to a Tokyo museum died when the water temperature rose and the salt dropped in its aquarium. In 1990, a 17 1/2-pound lobster named Mimi died just days after being flown to a restaurant in Detroit. Last year, a 14-pound lobster named Hercules that was rescued by a Washington state middle school class died before it could be released off the coast of Maine.

[f1000]

I wonder what the zoo staff will be eating for lunch today?

[xi_hyperon]

Originally posted by f1000:
I wonder what the zoo staff will be eating for lunch today?

Well, he's dead already so I doubt they will eat him.

[ort888]

I think they'll eat nachos.

[badidea]

That's really sad!!!!
(they should have boiled him while he was still alive)

[mitchell_pgh]

Ha ha... I can't believe the people that saved him actually killed him... how ironic.

[Cody Dawg]

God took control of the situation.

The people that pulled him out of the water should be ashamed of themselves. They should have thrown him back in and left him alone.

Bubba was the equivalent of Marlon Brando in Lobsterdom, in my opinion. He was the Don Corleone of the seabeds.



Rest in peace, Bubba.

[effgee]

Originally posted by Cody Dawg:
... He was the Don Corleone of the seabeds.

You mean he put contracts on other Lobsters' heads? The bastard.

[Cody Dawg]

Bubba Corleone responds:

"I spent my whole life trying not to be careless. Women and children can be careless. But not lobsters."

[f1000]

Now Bubba sleeps with the fishes.

[BasketofPuppies]

Originally posted by f1000:
Now Bubba sleeps with the fishes.

That's the most corny joke I've ever read.

Keep 'em comin'.

[KeriVit]

Poor Bubba.

[Shaddim]

They killed Bubba!

Those bastards!

Acutally, it is quite sad. I would have simply taken a few pics of him and let him go. You have to respect something that big and that old.

[E's Lil Theorem]

Originally posted by MacNStein:
Those bastards!

Acutally, it is quite sad. I would have simply taken a few pics of him and let him go. You have to respect something that big and that old.

This is what I was thinking, too, but I know it'd be hard to let him go.

[mitchell_pgh]

I find it strange that once you give an animal a "personality" it becomes much more difficult to kill them for consumption.

Nobody cares about the millions of chickens/cows/fish captured/killed every year, but one 22 lbs. lobster and everyone is trying to save it.

[f1000]

In 1985, a 25-pound lobster that the New England Aquarium planned to give to a Tokyo museum died when the water temperature rose and the salt dropped in its aquarium.

Something smells fishy here.

[E's Lil Theorem]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
I find it strange that once you give an animal a "personality" it becomes much more difficult to kill them for consumption.

Nobody cares about the millions of chickens/cows/fish captured/killed every year, but one 22 lbs. lobster and everyone is trying to save it.

My guess is that it'd be the same (or at least close to it) if it were a 50yo chicken/pig.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by E's Lil Theorem:
My guess is that it'd be the same (or at least close to it) if it were a 50yo chicken/pig.

Chickens and pigs can live to 50?

[malvolio]

I blame PETA:

[E's Lil Theorem]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Chickens and pigs can live to 50?

If...

[Shaddim]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
I find it strange that once you give an animal a "personality" it becomes much more difficult to kill them for consumption.

Nobody cares about the millions of chickens/cows/fish captured/killed every year, but one 22 lbs. lobster and everyone is trying to save it.

That's true, but I'm thinking more of the days I spent in the Fla Keys trapping with my grandfather (he was a commercial fisherman). Once we pulled up 14lb rock lobster (the ones without claws) and he felt some compassion for it. So after photographing and weighing it, we put it back in the ocean. He figured it was between 30-40 years old and it deserved some respect. Besides, he'd eaten a couple that were close to that size and he said the meat was tough and fiberous. The fishhouse would likely only buy it to put in a display tank as a trophy, and that's just not right.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by E's Lil Theorem:
If...

Ya but you said IF it were a 50 year old chicken not IF a chicken could live 50 years

[E's Lil Theorem]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Ya but you said IF it were a 50 year old chicken not IF a chicken could live 50 years

"If it were" contemplates the existence of the object, i.e., there was no need for me to further explain as you did when you said, "IF a chicken could live 50 years."