Arthur E. Benjamin’s two non-profit organizations (American Dog Rescue and the Arthur E. Benjamin Foundation) teamed up to sponsor the “Free Captain Watson” benefit held by Sea Shepherd this past Saturday in Malibu. The annual fundraiser occurred at a particularly urgent time for Sea Shepherd, as founder and president Captain Paul Watson was recently arrested in Frankfurt, Germany. The arrest is in connection with a 2002 incident in which Watson and others clashed with members of an illegal shark finning operation near Guatemala.

If extradited to Costa Rica as planned, Watson faces grave danger. Shark finners in that country have placed a bounty on his head.

“I am moved to support someone as dedicated as Captain Paul Watson who continues to prove ‘In the great scheme of things, what matters is not how long you live but why you live, what you stand for and what you are willing to die for,'” Arthur says.