THE ANTI WHALING activists of Sea Shepard, also the main focus of Animal Planet show Whale Wars, have claimed that a Japanese whaling ship has rammed into their speed boat Ady Gil in an allegedly "unprovoked attack", breaking it in half.

The controversial Sea Shepard Conservation society, founded by former Greenpeace member Paul Watson is deemed an eco terrorist group and dangerous by many, including some of his Greenpeace collegues. It explicitly targets Japanese whaling fleets, in a bid to stop them from hunting whales. They are considered dangerous as they resort to violent tactics to do so and have themselves claimed to have sunk 10 whaling ships in the show Whale Wars, which is in its season 3.

The Whale wars, both as a show and as an effort by Sea Shepard, consists of sea dog fights between Japanese whaling ships and the vessels of the former, one of which was the Ady Gil. This becomes good television for Animal Planet as millions of viewers stay glued to their television screens.

The Ady Gil had set sail in December 2008 to the Antarica where these Japanese Whaling fleet hunt for Minkle whales. The boat had a with a top speed of up to 50 knots (58mph) and able to dive under waves completely. Paul Watson of Sea Shepard felt that the speed was needed to intercept the harpooners, as the vessel was twice as fast as a harpoon vessel.

The damage inflicted to the Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil will likely restart the debate over the tactics used by the environmental group. However, this may mean little to the viewers of Whale wars.