Bubba is going to the zoo.

“No Butter for Bubba, the 22-Pound Lobster


By MIKE CRISSEY, Associated Press Writer

PITTSBURGH - He could be older than Warner Bros. studio, General Motors and the Boy Scouts. He could have survived two world wars and Prohibition. He could have been dinner.


He's Bubba, a 22-pound leviathan of a lobster pulled from the waters off Nantucket, Mass., and shipped to a Pittsburgh fish market.


"It is overwhelming," owner Bob Wholey said. "If you see it, you will never forget it. Customers are just in awe."


On Tuesday, Wholey gave the lobster to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, which will send him to an aquarium at a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum.


Based on how long it typically takes a lobster to reach eating size — about five to seven years to grow to a pound — Bubba may be 100 years old.


That would make the crustacean older than Warner Bros. (1907), the Boy Scouts (1910) and the states of Arizona and New Mexico (1912), not to mention the first commercial radio station (1920), television (1927) and computers (1943).


People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent Wholey a letter asking him to work with the group to release Bubba back in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maine.


Another group calling itself People For Eating Tasty Animals reportedly offered Wholey a hefty price for the lobster. At Tuesday's price of $14.98 a pound, Bubba would retail for about $350.


Bob Bayer, executive director of the University of Maine's Lobster Institute, is skeptical and estimates that Bubba is likely 50 years old, but doesn't know for sure. Warm water and plenty of food may have more to do with a lobster's size than how long it's been alive.


"We have looked at all kinds of things to figure out if there is any way to age a lobster. I'm guessing 100 years is probably too high but I can't argue with it because you don't know," Bayer said.


No matter his age, Bubba dwarfs a typical 1 1/2-pound lobster. He's about three feet long and took up about half a 4-foot-by-4-foot tank at Wholey's Market. A lobster sharing his tank was about as big as one of Bubba's claws.


A handful of people who wandered by the tank Tuesday were impressed. One woman quietly said, "Wow," while a man said, "He's serious."


Although his business is to sell seafood, Wholey says Bubba was never bound to be boiled and buttered. And he's become a little philosophical after seeing the lobster, which could be twice his 54 years.


"I don't think you could eat something that big. ... What range of emotions does a lobster have? Greed? Lust? Love? I'm just going to give him to the zoo and hope he lives another 100 years," Wholey said.


"If you sat down and ate this thing, wouldn't that be a bit shellfish?"


Mike and me are very happy that they are not going to eat him.”

“Bastards! I'da boiled that sucker up the second I caught him.”

“Probably kinda tough, Bison. Those real large ones may not be the most delectable!”

“Thats not nice!”

“Who cares, Lobster doesn't get tough enough to be "bad," That boy's a feast.”

“Not nice! He's food, let him be what he is.”

“Just let it pinch ya.”

“Why am I having flashbacks to Eddie Murphy’s Save Larry the Lobster Telethon skit on SNL?

"If I don't get $5,000 in 12 hours he's going in the pot!"”

“Probably feed a whole family, too!”

“I think its great that a animal can live that long and not it gets to go to a safe place and be happy.

8)”

“LOL I read this as

Buddur is going to the zoo.”

“lol, Nigal, do you remember how that one worked out?”

“I believe Larry got his goose cooked, yes?

I wonder if the zoo keepers were wearing bibs when they took him in?”

“At first glance I though Dubya was going to the zoo.”

“It went kinda like this:

Eddie Murphy is holding Larry the Lobster over a pot of boiling water on the set. And he says something like this:

"Well, even though y'all voted to save Larry the Lobster, we got a lot of letters that said 'I didn't realize that n*****s ate lobster,' so he's gettin' cooked!"

And he tosses Larry the Lobster into the pot.”

“LOL anyone see Richard Jeni bit on lobsters?

the lobster thought he won the lottery because everyone had his face on there shirts.

LOL”

“Yeah, I thought it was Bubya too.

At the museum at Pemaquid Lighthouse in Maine they have a mounted lobster about that size on the wall. It's good to know that some lunkers don't get caught.

It's also good to know that I'm headed Downeast in June, because I just got a powerful hunger for lobster.”

“They can pinch very hard!!!!!!!!


8)”

“And all for not, Bubba's dead

So all that happened hear is that a good meal was missed...”

“Hey, ya just can't cut down every tree or eat every lobster.

Some just die and go to waste.”

“Hmmm....

Thanks for the idea MarkO, I think I'll go cut down a tree in Bubba's honor.”

“Chew slowly..........and brush after every meal.”

“When asked if Bubba's death was the result of an unfortunate accident involving a huge vat of drawn butter, park officials had no comment.”

“see this is so sad.”

“Poor Bubba! I will wear my bib at half-mast for the remainder of the day...”

“You got a Bubba Bib??”

“Well, not officially. But, it does have a picture of one of his relatives on it!”

“This just cracks me up.


What a waste of a good, tasty lobster.”

“Poor Bubba! I will wear my bib at half-mast for the remainder of the day...”
Treebeard
8:46:01 AM
3/03/05

I just read this while on the phone with a vendor, I laughed out loud and had to tell him why.
you made him laugh too.”

“That's one big bug.”