The Japanese pirate whaling fleet has departed from Japan on a mission to defy international law and international public opinion and slaughter over 1,000 whales in the Southern Ocean in December of 2006 and January of 2007.

Sea Shepherd is in final preparations to meet them - with two ships, two crews, and the steadfast determination to stop these whale killers.

Operation Leviathan: Our Plan

Our objective is to place ourselves in harm's way to protect these gentle, intelligent, and socially complex sentient beings. We want the whale wars to be ended and whaling abolished. Our courageous crews are willing to sacrifice their holidays away from their families and willing to risk their lives in one of the most hostile regions on this planet against on of the most ruthless adversaries on this planet.

Our two ships are in final preparations - acquiring provisions like fuel, charts, survival suits, communications system, oil, parts, and food. Our volunteer crewmembers are making their way to meet up with the ships in port and prepare for departure.

We are more determined than ever to defend these whales which deserve to live their lives wild and free. We believe that the heritage of future generations should include the magnificent and intelligent whales and that the delicately balanced ecosystems that we enjoy are preserved for future generations.

Operation Leviathan: Your Involvement

We need you. We need your encouragement and financial support which gives us the means and the motivation to send so many volunteers on a quest to defend the lives of the whales.

We need you. We need you to stand with us as we head our to confront the Japanese whaling fleet and to protect the living treasures of the sea from those who so mercilessly plunder, kill, and waste.

The whales are counting on us for protection . . .

We are counting on you to get us there.

For more information on defending the whales visit www.seashepherd.org

This is to report that I am off on yet another adventure. It's a dicey one, - a last ditch effort to save some whales from the cruel harpoons of the Japanese whaling fleet, - in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary where our marine mammal kin have been feeding for a long, long time.

Sea Shepherd (.org) direct actions, as strategized by Captain Paul Watson, have inspired me since I first heard the Captain speak at a festival in 1986. At that time, a crewmember had successfully incapacitated the Icelandic whaling fleet by scuttling their ships in harbor and destroying their whale meat processing plant. Of course, now 20 years later Iceland is back at the killing, under protest of all European nations who have made it out of the Dark Ages when it comes to animals.

And Japan never stopped. They are ruthless in their raping of the oceans, cruel and greedy. Maybe this will be a battle between the 'good samurai' defending the lives of our marine mammal kin, and the 'bad "samurai" living out the shadow of humankind.

As for me, the only reason I can come up with as to why I will crew again on this ship in extreme weather conditions and rough seas (read: 'seasick'), is that I feel compelled to. Last winter when Sea Shepherd crew was out there, I had just returned from doing field pet rescue in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and needed to regenerate my resources from the expenses and my health from the toxicity I was subjected to, so I stayed glued to the internet and sent the crew and the whales energy long distance. When in January the Captain said ' we will be back', I felt it would be time for me again to board the ship.

After becoming a full-fledged individual dog rescuer this Summer and saving a few dozens doggie lives and placing them in the best forever homes (and one, insisting on chasing something that moved while attached to me by leash, causing me a head wound and a broken collarbone..), - it is now taking months to delegate my life to my ever faithful friends (complicated by 6 critters still under my wings), and gathering up my warm clothes from my Canadian anti-seal hunt campaign of Spring 2005, and using this means to let "y'all " know what is going on, and to let you know that anything from checking the Sea Shepherd site sometimes and staying informed, to focused energy sent to our whale kin and to our 70 international crew on 2 ships, to sending me any small amounts of money you feel like facilitating my endeavor with, to helping to get tax-deductible donations to seashepherd.org and letting folks know we exist, - and anything else that is in your Heart.

I know that it is not easy to be alive in this day and age, in our privileged existence in the west, and with a healthy mind and a compassionate Heart, and read about all the evil and unconscious acts perpetrated on our relatives in all the forms on this amazing planet, and to feel the anger, pain, despair and confusion that knowing and feeling all this brings to our daily lives we have created around ourselves.

I don't have any answers. Other than that great Teachers have gone before us to shine a Light on our human predicament, amongst who Gandhi:

"You may never know what results come from your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results."

"Everything you do may seem insignificant, but it is of the greatest importance that you do it."