Press Release from Japan Whaling Association
Headline: Animal Planet Spurs Violence At Sea
The Japan Whaling Association (JWA) said today it feared for the lives of the Japanese crew in the Antarctic, as well as
the protection of the vessels, because of the actions of the Sea Shepherd-Animal Planet extremists aboard the Dutch
vessel Steve Irwin.
The JWA, which represents the many different whaling interests in Japan, from the hunters to the culinary interests,
said the Sea Shepherd-Animal Planet protest expedition was extremely volatile and had the ingredients to turn “very
nasty, very quickly” because of the film crew on board the Netherlands ship.
“Last season in the Antarctic, the presence of the Animal Plant film crew pushed the Sea Shepherd extremists into
committing more and more dangerous actions, all for the benefit of the camera,” said the President of the JWA, Mr
Keiichi Nakajima.
“Paul Watson even orchestrated a fake event to make it look like he was shot, all of which was aimed at denigrating
Japan and boosting the ratings of the Animal Planet un-reality TV series.”
Mr Nakajima said JWA was even more concerned this season because there is now the added expectation that the Sea
Shepherd-Animal Planet crew will take even greater risks and perform even more serious criminal acts for the second
series for Animal Planet.
“We expect more dangerous and criminal activity will be carried out by the Sea Shepherd-Animal Planet crew because they
want to make an exciting television series and this fills us with very great concern for the lives of the Japanese crews
and scientists,” Mr Nakajima said.
“Animal Planet will try to deny it has any influence on what Sea Shepherd extremists plan and carry out, but the fact is
the very presence of the film crew on board is enough to provide a causal link between them and the events that occur in
the Antarctic.”
ENDS