Giant 132-year-old lobster released after 20 years in captivity

He clawed his way to freedom!

A giant lobster, believed to be 132 years old, was released into the wild Friday after spending two decades in a tank at a Long Island clam bar.

Louie the Lobster — a 22-pounder who narrowly escaped the pot — was zipped by speedboat to his new home near the Atlantic beach reef in honor of National Lobster week, said Butch Yamali, owner of Peter’s Clam Bar in Hempstead.

“Louie has been here about 20 years. He looks like he’s ready to go,” Yamali said before loading him into a boat docked at Reynolds Channel.

He added, “He’s the largest and oldest of all my lobsters. It’s happy and sad.”

Last week, a customer offered Yamali $1,000 to chow down on Louie at a Father’s Day dinner, he said.

“He was trying to negotiate with me. He said, ‘I want to bring it home for a Father’s Day feast.’ I mean, that would’ve been some impressive feast. But I didn’t want to sell it. It’s like a pet now, I couldn’t sell it,” Yamali said.

Instead, he granted the clawed critter “amnesty” and invited town officials to the ceremony.

“Today I’m announcing an official pardon for Louie the Lobster,” Hempstead Town Supervisor Anthony Santino said with a wink.

“Louie may have faced a buttery fate on a seafood lover’s plate, but today we are here to return Louie to a life that is better down where it’s wetter,” he added — before workers plopped the shellfish into the ocean.

Louie, who is missing a claw, came with the restaurant when Yamali bought the place four years ago.

He was one of New York’s oldest lobsters in captivity, according to past reports. The world’s oldest was believed to be 140.

The lobster will likely survive despite spending so much time in captivity, one expert said.

“He’ll be just fine. There aren’t many predators who want to eat a big old lobster like that,” said Bob Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute in Maine. “Hopefully, he finds a mate — and lives happily ever after.”