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Anti-whaling group takes battle to top US court


The conservation group Sea Shepherd on Monday asked the US Supreme Court to lift an order forcing it steer clear of Japan's whalers, who have warned of legal reprisals over harassment at sea.

Since 2002, Sea Shepherd has annually disrupted Japan's contested hunt in the Southern Ocean but a US court on December 17 issued an injunction for the activists to stay at least 500 yards (meters) away from the whaling vessels.




Kennedy called Japan's government-supported Institute for Cetacean Research, which runs the whaling program and sued Sea Shepherd, "a pirate organization masquerading as a scientific research group."

In an application to the Supreme Court filed on Friday, Sea Shepherd and Watson said that the lower court "acted rashly" and voiced concern over the order's "extraordinarily long reach" to areas outside US jurisdiction.



The letter warned that the institute could ask that Sea Shepherd be found in contempt of court -- which could lead to punishment -- unless the group orders the Brigitte Bardot to comply with the injunction or returns it to port.

The Oregon-based group contended that it is observing the injunction, saying that the Brigitte Bardot sails under an Australian flag and is operated by Sea Shepherd's Australian sister organization.
