PORT ANGELES — Hercules, the 14-pound lobster who won the hearts of Stevens Middle School students and inspired them to send him home to Maine, has died.
Hercules was found dead by officials from The Lobster Conservancy in the protected harbor of Friendship, Maine, on Friday morning.
“We went out to check on him and he was dead,” said Sara Ellis, executive director of The Lobster Conservancy.
“The kids did everything they could as far as packing him well. He got here and we thought he looked OK, but there was an injury on his back and I think the stress of the trip was just too much for him.”
The lobster, estimated to be between 50 and 70 years old, was shipped via FedEx on Tuesday after being donated to Stevens students by officials from Albertsons Food and Drug in Port Angeles.
“It is pretty sad that he died after all of our efforts to keep him alive,” said Stevens eighth-grader Owen Kajfasz. “Although it is sad, it is nice because this brought a lot of awareness to how much big lobsters contribute to the lobster community.”
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The rest of the story appears in the Sunday Peninsula Daily News.
