Leave it to Larry the vegan to save Craig the Crustacean.
Three days after an aborted rescue mission to return a 20-pound lobster to the icy Atlantic, vegan baker Larry Fleming picked up the 100-plus-year-old mammoth mollusk from Halu Japanese restaurant in Dyker Heights on Friday and drove through the night to get the big guy to New Hampshire.
The next morning, two zoologists — who are also volunteers with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — drove Craig across the border to Maine on Saturday, and deposited him into the ocean.
“They didn’t just dump him in, by the way,” said Fleming, who lives in Maine, but owns the Manhattan bake shop, Little Lad’s. “They took an hour or so to acclimate him to the water.”
Fleming, who was involved in an earlier PETA “rescue” of George, another 20-pounder who lived briefly at City Crab restaurant, said Craig was even bigger.
“He was much bigger than George,” Fleming said. “No wonder there were media people waiting for us on Saturday at the ocean.”
Gina Ng, owner of Halu, said she had originally wanted to keep Craig on display, but worried for his health, so she called in the animal-rights group.
“It’s a little sad to say goodbye,” she said. “But I think he will be much happier in the ocean.”
