Le Sea Shepherd se voit forcé de congédier Vlasak...

[Animal 0]

Le Sea Shepherd se voit forcer de congédier Vlasak...

Controversial hunt activist dropped from board aractivism

Last Updated Fri, 22 Apr 2005 17:26:43 EDT
CBC News

ST. JOHN'S - The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has removed Dr.
Jerry Vlasak – who has condoned assassination as a way of stopping
animal abuse – from its board of directors.
The board of directors made the decision to drop Vlasak in a conference
call.

Vlasak, who did not take part in the call, indicated he was not
surprised by the decision.
He said it was probably necessary so that the Sea Shepherd Conservation
Society could maintain its funding, and continue its operations,
including protests against the seal hunt.

"They saw a threat to their organization as it was operating ... they
felt like taking me off the board presented them with the best
opportunity to do so," he said.

Vlasak was barred from entering the United Kingdom after he told a 2003
conference in the United States that he supports assassination of
animal researchers as a means of stopping animal-based research.

"If these vivisectors were being targeted for assassination, and call
it political assassination or what have you ... strictly from a fear
and intimidation factor, that would be an effective tactic," Vlasak
said at the time.
In an interview this week with the CBC, Vlasak did not back down from
those remarks, and he said he also supported violence against sealers.

"Are these people comparable to people that chop up animals in
laboratories just to further their academic careers? Yeah, I think
they're all abhorrent in a certain way," he said.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society immediately distanced themselves
from those comments, saying they "do not represent the policy"of the
organization.

Vlasak agreed with the suggestion that the Sea Shepherd Conservation
Society has been turning a blind eye to his views on violence as a
means of stopping animal research.
"I'm not a different person today than I was the day before they
removed me from the board," he said.

"[Founder] Paul Watson and I are still friends and will always be
friends. But if they feel, for strategic reasons, that I needed to be
removed from the board, then that's OK with me."

Watson said Thursday he would be asking Vlasak to renounce his views or
face being removed from the society's board.
Vlasak said he would not do that.

He likened his work on animal rights to "lots of people who have taken
up arms, like Nelson Mandela and lots of other brave people, who have
been to prison and won the Nobel Peace Prize."

Vlasak said he would not counsel others to organize an assassination
and would not commit violent acts himself, but says "the fear of
violence" would be a "necessary strategy" if other tactics do not work.

Vlasak participated in demonstrations at the seal hunt this spring near
the Magdalen Islands. He is facing a charge of interfering with the
hunt, but says he was punched in those by a sealer. He will be
returning to Canada for his trial.