Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson is never one to shy away from a battle, but thanks to a US Court’s decision and a brand new lawsuit over the sinking of the old EarthRace trimaran (a/k/a Ady Gill), he may finally have been outflanked, and his days could be numbered.
Ady Gill, who paid for the vessel, filed the suit against Watson, alleging the environmental activist (some would say ‘terrorist’, although we wouldn’t) scuttled the carbon racing boat in the Southern Ocean after it was famously rammed by a Japanese whaler. According to the suit, Shepherd could have saved the trimaran, but instead ordered his crew to sink her to generate publicity for his TV show and the cause. Gill claims their agreement to let Watson use the boat for Whale Wars required him to keep the boat in good condition, something hard to do if the boat is on the bottom.
We’ll keep watching this to see where the fallout goes; in the meantime, Watson just resigned as the head of Sea Shepherd and as captain of the Steve Irwin, and seems to be backing away from the battle. Despite the mess (or because of it?), Animal Planet just picked up Whale Wars for a sixth season, so those of you who are either a) hoping you wouldn’t have to look at him anymore are out of luck, or b) glad that he is still the face of the cause, are in luck.
We’ve spent a long time watching his antics as the activist has battled against an abhorrent Japanese whaling program that shouldn’t be tolerated on this planet in this day and age, and there is no amount of fighting on behalf of the whales that is too much when it comes to stoping the savage butchery of these beautiful creatures. Still, Watson has legions of detractors and whether that can be overlooked in the name of a noble cause…the jury is still out.
