George (lobster)

George was captured off the coast of Newfoundland in December 2008, and sold to the City Crab and Seafood restaurant in Park Avenue South for US$100. He arrived at the restaurant on New Year's Eve. Keith Valenti, the restaurant manager, said that "We never intended him to be sold, just draw attention to the restaurant, and he did." Instead, the lobster had been "sitting in the restaurant's tank and acting as a sort of mascot"; Valenti explained that "we bought a big lobster, started taking pictures with kids and it worked out real well". George was given his name by a young patron of the restaurant, and was treated as a pet. He lived in the tank for approximately ten days. ==Release==

Two customers told animal rights group PETA about George being kept in the restaurant, Vegetarian restaurateur Larry Fleming from Maine handled the trip. He said that George would be "very happy" when returned to the ocean. In a statement, Ingrid Newkirk of PETA said ==Weight and age==

George weighed , and was estimated to be 140 years old, placing his year of birth around 1869. Though some scientists claim that lobsters cannot live for much longer than 100 years, Valenti claims it is fairly common. PETA did not reveal how they had calculated the age, but Valenti explained that lobster age can be estimated by weight, with the weight increasing by around for every seven to ten years of life. He added that "I've been here for 12 years, and that's the biggest lobster I've ever seen". ==See also==