Huge New Yorker story on Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd 11/5/07 edition

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The November 5 edition of the prestigious New Yorker magazine, on stands now, touts its lead story on the cover with the headline, "High-seas vigilante." Raffi Khatchadourian's article inside (p 56), almost a novella at 13,000 words, is headed "Neptune's Navy: Paul Watson's Wild Crusade to Save the Ocean." It discusses Watson's background as a founder of Greenpeace, and his split from that group to form Earthforce and then Sea Shepherd, due to his openness, and Greenpeace's opposition, to direct interference with hunts and the destruction of property. Watson is quoted:“I will not watch a whale die. I’ve not seen a whale die since I left Greenpeace, in 1977. When we show up, whales don’t die.” The article is in part an adventure story, detailing various high seas chases, in part an examination of tactics, which discusses the extent to which

Watson's actions are legal, and in part a character study of Watson. It tells us:"When Watson is separated from land, he tends to behave like Captain Nemo, which is to say that he does what he thinks is right, even if it involves a violation of custom or the destruction of property. There are a number of rules belonging to civilization that outrage his sense of morality...."We get a sense of Watson's work and his sense of humor from paragraphs like this:"Watson was captaining the Farley...The ship, black with yellow trim, featured a skull and crossbones painted across its superstructure and, on the forward deck, a customized device called "the can opener": a sharpened steel I-beam that is propelled outward from the ship’s starboard side and is used to scrape the hulls of adversaries. Watson’s plan was to transfer as much furniture, equipment, and crew as he could from the Farley to the Hunter... in part to ready it for a procedure that he called Operation

Asshole—so named because it involved ramming one vessel into another’s stern."And we learn more about both his personal charisma and the popularity of his work as we read about celebrity supporters including, "Mick Jagger, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Penn, Aidan Quinn, William Shatner, Edward Norton, Orlando Bloom, and Uma Thurman." We read that Martin Sheen has travelled with Watson and said, "He’s one of the gutsiest guys on the planet."The lengthy article is an engrossing read. You'll find it on newsstands this weekend or on line athttp://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/11/05/071105fa_fact_khatchadourianOR http://tinyurl.com/2kdld4It opens the door for appreciative letters to the editor discussing our treatment of the Earth and other species. The New Yorker advises, "Letters should be sent with the writer's name, address and daytime phone number via e-mail to themail ."Yours and the animals',Karen

Dawn(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)To discontinue DawnWatch alerts go to http://www.DawnWatch.com/nothanks.php-------You are d to DawnWatch using the following address: dogs_goodDate: Sat Nov 3 18:10:40 2007