Sea Shepherd Wages War
Sea Shepherd, an eco-vigilante group that targets, among other poachers, Japanese whaling vessels, doesn't just have an ax to grind: it has a harpoon. It was formed in 1977 by Paul Watson, an ex-employee of Greenpeace who felt the organization was not aggressive enough in dealing with illegal hunts. In recent years, Sea Shepherd has built up a private flotilla — dubbed Neptune's Navy — charged most famously with tracking and confronting Japan's seasonal whaling fleets, which often hunt dozens of whales off the Antarctic on the pretext of conducting "research." But their violent tactics, which include boarding and ramming whaling vessels, hurling foul acid and generally endangering the lives of opposing crewmen, have caused diplomatic incidents and even led to condemnation from Greenpeace. We're all for saving animals — but humans matter too.