Paul Watson, the founder of Sea Shepherd, the NGO which fights illegal fishing, whaling and dolphin hunting, saw his detention in a Danish prison extended on Wednesday October 2 until October 23.
To the great dismay of Brigitte Bardot, who played a role in the creation of Sea Shepherd. Moreover, last weekend, during interviews for her 90th birthday, she displayed a “Free Paul Watson” flag. It must be said that between them, it’s a story of almost 50 years.
In March 1977, Paul Watson was 27 years old. This former Canadian coast guard co-founded Greenpeace eight years earlier. Since childhood, he has been involved in animal rights. The trigger for him was beavers. In the summer in Canada, on vacation, he swam in a lake with them. And then the following year, surprise, they were no longer there. He then discovers that they were killed by trappers. He then begins to search for and destroy all the beaver traps he finds. But in 1977, his fight is baby seals.
Creation of the “Shepherd of the Seas” in 1977
It was Paul Watson, who had the idea of contacting Brigitte Bardot and bringing her to Labrador (a Canadian territory), convinced that her international aura would be the means to highlight these massacres. He is right, the photo of Brigitte Bardot with a baby seal will go around the world and end up having the skin of this hunt. It was during this trip where they remained stuck in a tent at a temperature well below zero that they became friends. And that Brigitte Bardot witnesses the scene that will change everything.
While they are on the ice floe, they see hunters killing baby seals. Paul Watson rushes towards one of them, snatches his hakapik, the club used to kill, before he uses it on another baby. Then throws it into the water. This gesture earned him the exclusion of Greenpeace, which considered it a violation of its rules of non-violence..
Whatever, Paul Watson created his own organization in 1977: Sea Shepherd, which means “Shepherd of the seas” in reference to baby seals which are also called whitecoats, since they are white like sheep.
An NGO that some see as eco-terrorists, others as saviors of the seas. This is the case of Brigitte Bardot, who has financed Sea Shepherd with her foundation since the beginning. To thank him in 2011, Paul Watson renames a trimaran in his fleet the Brigitte Bardot whose body and blond hair he painted emerging from the water on the bow. And on which until 2012, he sailed with in his cockpit the bust of Marianne bearing the image of our national Brigitte Bardot.
Read more
Related News :