Sea Shepherd anti-whaling founder arrested in Germany

[FarCenter]

The founder of conservation group Sea Shepherd, which annually disrupts Japan's whale hunt, has been arrested in Frankfurt for extradition to Costa Rica, according to the organisation.

Paul Watson is in a German jail after being detained Sunday on charges stemming from a high seas confrontation over shark finning in 2002.

A media report in Australia, citing Costa Rican reports, said he also faced an outstanding warrant for attempted murder during the same incident.

"The German police have said that the warrant for Captain Watson's arrest is in response to an alleged violation of ships traffic in Costa Rica, which occurred during the filming of 'Sharkwater' in 2002," Sea Shepherd said.

http://www.france24.com/en/20120514-sea-shepherd-anti-whaling-founder-arrested-germany

[russspeakeasy]

1. Japanese shark hunters cut off the shark fins for soup, drop the

shark back in the ocean AND Watson is the one in jail ??

[Bonobo]

5. Are you sure you don't mean Chinese?

Do you have some kind of a link backing up your claim?

[ceile]

11. I think he means Chinese...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/conservation/sharks/

[Bonobo]

12. Same difference to some people I guess.

"They all look alike."

Sigh.

[jp11]

13. Yeah it isn't like it couldn't be a mistake of not knowing the details of shark finning or

what country's typically do that. Seeing as how China is never mentioned in the excerpt or anywhere in the article but it is mentioned he goes after Japanese whalers.

Because we all know everyone at DU reads all the articles linked and never makes a mistake about anything.

[Bonobo]

14. Much more likely that it is what I said.

Asians... pretty much all the same.

Just so you know, whales are not sharks.

[ZombieHorde]

2. Attempted murder? That is a pretty serious charge.

They are definitely disruptive, but I wasn't expecting any of them to be charged with attempted murder.

[Meiko]

3. I was wondering

when they were going to get him. I was watching "whale wars" yesterday on the animal planet and his group were in the Faroe Islands attempting to disrupt the pilot whale grind. I don't know why they weren't arrested. Much of their behavior was over the top, they were tolerated for some reason. I suppose the town got a big payout.. it's all about money in the end. I think I can understand their feelings but their behavior endangers other peoples lives, and their own.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

4. It does seem that he kept getting more and more reckless, and was happy about it.

[Zalatix]

6. This is to be expected when you see animals, some of whom are endangered, being ruthlessly hunted.

It's a vicious circle of wrongdoing begetting more wrongdoing and I feel the entire international community should be held accountable for not stopping the shark finning and commercial whale hunting.

But how do you stop sovereign nations from doing this??? That's why this guy is getting to be so extreme.

I wonder if Post Traumatic Stress has something to do with this. Seeing so many animals die so needlessly could do that to you.

[Cave_Johnson]

7. From what I heard...

... the show had a reputation for nothing actually happening.

He may have been under pressure to make the show more interesting and crossed a line.

[russspeakeasy]

9. Good observation...

[Bake]

10. Did you see the locals wading out to kill the whales with knives and their bare hands?

And you think **Watson** was over the top????

We're trying to kill this planet and its oceans. Wake the fuck up, people!

Bake

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. Prior parallel thread