Via LA Times: At the heart of the show, of course, is Watson, who was raised in a fishing village in eastern Canada. After becoming one of the youngest founding members of Greenpeace at 18, he left the environmental organization to found Sea Shepherd at age 26.
But it was in 1975, when he was fighting a Soviet whaling fleet off the coast of California, that he really first felt a connection to a whale. Sitting in a small boat, Watson positioned himself between a whale pod and the larger vessel.
"We were able to block them for about 25 minutes, and then this harpoon flew over our heads and hit one of the whales and she screamed and rolled over in a fountain of blood," he recalled while sipping a cup of mushroom soup. "The largest whale in the pod then struck the water with his tail, and they harpooned him at point-blank range. And he screamed — a whale screams just like a person does, it's amazing."
As the whale was flailing about, Watson caught the animal's eye as it was coming out of the water.
"I looked into his eye and what I saw there really had a significant impact on me, because I saw understanding," he recalled. "That the whale understood what we were trying to do. He could have killed me that day and he chose not to. It was a realization — when I looked into that eye, I saw pity for us, not for him. That we could kill so thoughtlessly and ruthlessly, and for what?"
But it was in 1975, when he was fighting a Soviet whaling fleet off the coast of California, that he really first felt a connection to a whale. Sitting in a small boat, Watson positioned himself between a whale pod and the larger vessel.
"We were able to block them for about 25 minutes, and then this harpoon flew over our heads and hit one of the whales and she screamed and rolled over in a fountain of blood," he recalled while sipping a cup of mushroom soup. "The largest whale in the pod then struck the water with his tail, and they harpooned him at point-blank range. And he screamed — a whale screams just like a person does, it's amazing."
As the whale was flailing about, Watson caught the animal's eye as it was coming out of the water.
"I looked into his eye and what I saw there really had a significant impact on me, because I saw understanding," he recalled. "That the whale understood what we were trying to do. He could have killed me that day and he chose not to. It was a realization — when I looked into that eye, I saw pity for us, not for him. That we could kill so thoughtlessly and ruthlessly, and for what?"
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