Sea Shepherd Acknowledges the Guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Captain Watson responds here  to the comments made by the Dalia Lama at the end of his 11 day tour of Japan. The Dalai Lama said he supported Sea Shepherd's goal of preventing whalers from harming whales but added that "their (activities) should be non-violent".

“His Holiness the Dalai Lama said at a media conference in Japan that he continues to support the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. He did rebuke us and said to his Japanese hosts that our activities should be non-violent. He issued this criticism in response to accusations by some in Japan who have accused Sea Shepherd of violence during our interventions against the annual bloody slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.” Said Captain Watson.

Captain Watson continued “The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society agrees with His Holiness on the imperative of taking a non-violent approach, but also believes that the Japanese government has misinformed him of the activities of the Society.

We are in agreement with the Dalai Lama on this and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has never caused an injury to any individual. Reports that we have caused injuries have been fabricated for public relations purposes. We take every precaution to not cause injury, although we do destroy property that is used to take the life of sentient beings and for this we make no apologies. This year the Society has directly saved the lives of 528 whales and over 800 endangered Bluefin tuna. We are in the business of saving lives and not inflicting harm”

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society respects the Dalai Lama and his guidance is of great value to the Society.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will continue to intervene against the illegal
slaughter of these gentle Buddha’s of the sea and we will continue to do it exercising the utmost caution to not cause of harm to any person BUT rather to be the cause of saving the lives of hundreds of sentient beings from the mercilessly ruthless harpoons of the Japanese whaling fleet.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society wishes the Dalai Lama every success in his visit to Japan.