ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando police are looking for the people who stole more than 70 live lobsters. The stolen seafood is worth thousands of dollars, but it might all go to waste.

Somehow the thieves made it over a fence and barbed wire before they broke in the back of the Orlando seafood company and carried out a heavy load of live lobsters. The lobsters probably won't last and, if the thieves eat them, they could get sick.

"It's gotta be a joke, there's no way someone's gonna break in and steal lobster," said Juni Ramirez, who runs Reel Fish and Lobster.

Ramirez almost didn't believe the call he got at 3:00am Saturday that somebody carted off hundreds of pounds of live Maine lobster from the back of Reel Fish and Lobster.

"When we came the next morning, there was a crate of lobsters right here and empty one right next to the tanks," he said.

More than 200 pounds, or roughly 70 lobsters, were stolen out the back door. They are expensive lobsters. Seafood restaurants and stores will pay up to $50 a piece for some of them. The thieves made off with a total of $2,000 worth.

The thing about the lobsters is that they have to be kept in 40-degree water or they'll die within a matter of hours. Whoever stole them better eat them quickly.

"If they die, within 24 hours they have to be cooked. Otherwise, you can get sick off them," Ramirez said.

So whoever took the lobsters better have had a big lobster bake by the next day or they could be paying for their crime. Bad lobster is one fate even Ramirez said would be too harsh for thieves.

"I don't wish that upon them. When you do bad, it comes back on you," he said.

The company did have a surveillance system, but it was not wired properly so they don't have video. Now that they know thieves are looking for lobsters, the manager said the company will take more precautions in the future.

Orlando police said it was the first time in recent memory that the city has had a theft involving lobsters.