Lobby Joe’s long voyage back to the ocean began when he was spotted by Christine Loughead, sitting alone in a tank in a northern Ontario supermarket

By the time Lobby Joe was released back into the waters on Canada’s east coast, the Atlantic lobster had travelled thousands of kilometres on a journey that had cost hundreds of dollars.



The lobster’s long voyage began when he was spotted sitting alone in a tank in a northern Ontario supermarket, by Christine Loughead. Perhaps because she was a vegan, she found the crustacean’s probable fate unbearable. “It weighed on my psyche more and more,” she told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Then it dawned on her. “It’s not too late to help. He’s alive.”



Loughead bought the lobster for C$20.23 ($15.46), not exactly sure what she would do next. She took it home, telling it: “you are now not dinner,” and naming it Lobby Joe. Cutting off the thick rubber bands around its claws, she put it in a saltwater tank in her home.

An online search suggested the lobster had probably been plucked out of the waters near Nova Scotia. Loughead reached out to an online vegan community in the area, appealing for help to release the lobster back into the ocean if she could find a way to get it to Halifax, some 3,000 kilometres away from Red Lake.

Her call was answered by Beth Kent, the founder of a local animal shelter in Bridgewater, a small town about an hour’s drive from Halifax.

Now Loughead had to figure out how to get the lobster to Kent. She called around; the nearest courier that would ship live animals was in Winnipeg, a six-hour drive from her town.

Loughead packed the lobster in a Styrofoam box padded with wet newspaper and cold packs, placing the box gingerly in the back seat and fastening the seat belt around it. The cost of shipping was C$225 ($172) while gas for the journey came to around C$160 ($122.30).

After 24 hours in transit, the box arrived in Nova Scotia. As Kent gently wrestled wet newspaper from the grasp of its claws, she told Lobby Joe: “Life is going to get better, OK?”

Kent first went to the site where she had planned to release the lobster, but hastily changed plans after spotting a fishing boat on the horizon. She instead released the lobster in a small cove. “There he goes, there he goes,” Kent said excitedly as the lobster scrambled over the rocks.

Back in Ontario, Loughead cried as she heard that Lobby Joe had survived the journey and made it back to the ocean. While some have criticized her for supporting the lobster industry by purchasing the lobster, she said it was worth it.

“It’s a food animal to [most] and it’s not an attractive animal, but I tell people to close their eyes and picture something cuter waiting to die in the deli section,” she told the CBC. “I’m pretty sure you’d have an impulse to do something.”

