The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has removed Jerry Vlasak – who has endorsed assassination as a way of stopping animal abuse – from its board of directors.

FROM APRIL 21, 2005: Vlasak's views not supported: Sea Shepherd

Jerry Vlasak

The board of directors made the decision in a conference call.

Vlasak, who did not take part in the call, indicated he was not surprised by the decision.

He said the decision was likely 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, a California-based physician, has been barred entry from the United Kingdom, after he told a 2003 conference in the U.S. 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 interviews this week with the CBC, Vlasak said he would also support the use of violence to bring the seal hunt to an end.

FROM APRIL 19, 2005: Violence against sealers OK: activist

He 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 by a sealer.

Vlasak agreed with a suggestion that the Sea Shepherd Conservation 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.

"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, the society's founder, 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.

Meanwhile, Vlasak will be returning to Canada for his trial.

"I intend to have my day in court, and I can't wait to get there," he said.