Feeling Brave? July 17, 2009

Posted by Ryan at July 17, 2009 4:43 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 7 ) | TrackBack

Jane Taylor

We at peta2 have long followed the relentless efforts of the bad-ass pirates at the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

As watchers of the top-rated Animal Planet show Whale Wars will attest to, these warriors will stop at nothing to spare whales and other marine animals from being brutally slaughtered—often risking their lives to do so. This season alone, their boat was almost destroyed by an iceberg, a crew member fell overboard, and there was an anthrax scare.

And yet, in the middle of all that, crew member Jane Taylor took the time to chat with PETA about what drives her. As fans of the show will also know, Jane recently announced that she'll be taking some time off from her life at sea, but according to our recent interview, she may be back sooner than you think...

You can check out the full interview here, but here are some highlights!

What animal rights issues are you most passionate about?
It was very difficult to decide where to focus my efforts, but I thought Sea Shepherd was the perfect place since I have skills for ship-handling, guts for action, and a heart for humanity.

Immediately, I would like to work on getting Sea Shepherd another ship to use down in Antarctica. But in addition to focusing on marine life, I will also be concentrating my efforts on ending vivisection—another arena of extreme cruelty to animals.

Whale Wars can be a pretty intense show. Have you ever had a moment where you thought you couldn't keep going? What made you persevere?
There was never a moment when I thought I couldn't keep going. All the action was extremely intense with lots of adrenaline going through everyone's blood. The action became very addicting, and when we had to leave the whaling fleet, it was very, very disappointing. I was not ready to leave. We definitely need more ships out there.

...

Can we look forward to a third season of the show?
Oh, yes. There is a third season. Sea Shepherd has just merged with Earthrace, a round-the-world, record-breaking trimaran, so I suspect that the tactics next year are going to be completely different. Anything could happen when you bring a boat that looks like a spaceship [Ryan's note: Check out this picture!!] down to the Southern Ocean!

Will you be on deck again?
Oh, I got so addicted to Sea Shepherd's campaigns that I want to go on all of them! Before the merge, I met Earthrace in New Zealand and loved the boat, so I will be trying out to crew on it. With Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's new popularity, there are so many new, interesting, skilled, and keen volunteers, so I'm not sure if I will be selected, but my fingers are crossed!


Pretty incredible, eh?

What do you think, would you have the guts to get out there and defend animals against abuse on the high seas?

Watch 'Whale Wars' Tonight! November 7, 2008

Posted by Ryan at November 7, 2008 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 4 ) | TrackBack

I have four and a half words for you: Vegan pirates saving whales — yarr!

Yes, for too long it's been generally assumed that pirates do nothing more than seek out doubloons and say hilarious phrases like "shiver me timbers!" and "a-yo-ho-ho".

The good people of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society are changing all of that though. These people are the real deal, and using nonviolent methods of direct action, they have been fighting to defend the rights of sea animals for over 30 years.

Credit: ecorazzi / CC

Now, the friendly folks of Animal Planet will be highlighting the group's efforts in exciting detail as part of a new program called "Whale Wars", which starts tonight at 9pm (EST)!

To give you an example of the kind of remarkable work the group has done (and continues to do), check out this sweet trailer:



Make sure to tune in tonight, mateys!

- Ryan!