"One man's freedom fighter, another man's terrorist" by L Wellner

Murder, madness, horror, cruelty and disrespect. Many words a Sea Shepherd member would use to describe the horror happening out at sea, as the result of another nation's tradition.

Out in the Southern Ocean there is an ongoing war betwen the one-ship strong army of the Sea Shepherds and the entire Japanese whaling fleet. The eco-warriors, the Sea Shepherds, will stop at nothing to try and rob the Japanese of a profitable whaling season. In spite of being few in number, the SS put up a good fight by disabling whaling vessels at harbour, intervening in seal hunts, ramming other vessels, tossing glass bottles (of butyric acid) on the decks of the vessels at sea, using a system called "prop fouling" (tossing rope into the propellers of the whaling ships) and disorientating whalers with laser devices.

Of course, this is only possible when they are not being shot at by high pressure water-hoses, powerful enough to wound a brave Sea Shepherd badly enough to be taken back to the main vessel, the MY Steve Irwin. The whalers have another powerful weapon, a Long Range Acoustical Device (LRAD) causing the victims disorientation and dizziness to such an extent that one would fall over (doing so on a speed boat in the Arctic ocean could be fatal).

The leader of this powerful organization? Captain Paul Watson, an early member of Greenpeace who was ousted for his direct action activism, which clashed with their pacifist ethos. He started the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whose aims were to stop commercial fishing, shark poaching and finning, seal hunting and whaling.

The crew of this organization includes eco-warriors from England, Australia, South Africa, Holland and many more. They dedicate their lives to help protect our marine life. Animal Planet has been filming the weekly series Whale Wars, based on the group's encounters with the Japanese. Watching it, you are right in the action with the Sea Shepherds. If just watching the programme isn't enough for you, you can view their website at www.seashepherd.org.

You can donate money or become a member. Who knows? -Maybe they need someone like you on board the Steve Irwin. Maybe you could save some whale's life. Maybe you could chance this world?