in january 2010, sea shepherd conservation society announced that it had secretly purchased and outfitted a ship to interdict japanese whaling operations in the southern ocean using $5,000,000 provided by barker. the ship was then named the my "bob barker", and its existence was first revealed when it helped discover the location of the japanese whaling fleet. in 2010, barker began funding the cost of a helicopter, named the nancy burnet (after the president of united activists for animal rights); the helicopter accompanies the society's fleet.