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German officials, who released the 61-year-old on bail in May, first noticed something was amiss on Sunday, when Mr. Watson failed to appear for his daily check-in at a Frankfurt police station.

Then, this week, his attorney told a German regional court that his client had telephoned him with news that he was leaving the country for “an unknown destination,” according to a statement by Frankfurt’s higher regional court.

“[By] fleeing, Watson has shown that he cannot justify the trust placed in him,” said the court.

With his escape, Mr. Watson forfeits both his passport — which is in the custody of German authorities — and a $300,000 bond that was put up in May by an unidentified donor.

Although his whereabouts remain a mystery, Mr. Watson could have easily slipped over the unguarded French or Belgian borders, where the German arrest order is not valid.

“At this time we have no comment,” a Sea Shepherd representative said on Wednesday.

A Toronto native, Mr. Watson founded Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 1977 to use aggressive “direct action” to harass and sabotage whalers and marine poachers. Currently in command of a fleet of three vessels, the group claims to have sunk 10 whaling ships and is the subject of the Animal Planet TV series Whale Wars.

I don’t think [Costa Rica] wants a trial. I think they want an execution

Acting on a Costa Rican warrant, German authorities arrested Mr. Watson on May 14 while he was changing planes at Frankfurt Airport. Authorities in the Central American country issued the warrant last October on allegations that, in 2002, Mr. Watson endangered the crew of the Varadero I, a Costa Rican fishing vessel allegedly caught “shark finning,” an illegal technique where a shark’s fins are severed and its fatally-wounded body is thrown back into the water.