Reply #8: Sea Shepherd serves its purpose [View All]

[skeptical cynic]

The support for Sea Shepherd among the Australian people is probably why the government is finally taking action.

Sea Shepherd keeps an anachronistic and cruel practice from slipping silently into the normal background noise. They've been highly successful at ruining the seal fur trade between Canada and the EU, and it's just a matter of time before the Threshold for Japan is reached. I was able to get our Corporate Procurement Department to stop purchasing office products made in Japan. Our company isn't huge, only about 7,000 employees, but it felt good anyway.

On a related issue, I purchased a number of copies of "The Cove" and sent them to friends and family I knew wouldn't see the movie on their own initiative. The responses ranged from anger at my views, to shock, to anger at Japan, to anger at not being allowed their ignorance to continue. And the $400 I invested in the movies has resulted in several times that in donations to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Ocean Preservation Society. Better still, at my request those friends have passed the twenty copies of the movie on to their friends.

This is an ongoing battle. Everyone plays their part. Those who are willing to let cultural evolution settle the issue over centuries, those who seek solutions in treaties, those who seek solutions in international court, and my personal favorites--those who confront the whalers directly--all play parts in this process.