Hayden Panettiere News

Posted on 01 Nov 2007 / News and Gossip

Heroes star Hayden Panettiere has joined a high-profile protest in Japan at the site where thousands of pilot whales are slaughtered every year. Hayden joined Logie award-winning Australian actor Isabel Lucas and other celebrities and professional surfers to form a floating circle on surf boards offshore near the coastal village of Taiji.

The pre-dawn protest was staged in recent days and it sparked a heated confrontation with local fishermen. Some fishermen in the town kill dolphins and pilot whales in hunts that use fishing boats and metal noise-makers to herd the animals into netted coves and bays where they are held captive before being killed.

"I couldn't believe how red the water was," Panettiere said in a media statement issued through the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

"The whales were so scared. Hopefully their deaths won't be in vain."

Lucas said the fishermen kept "revving their engines and driving towards us."

"We couldn't save these whales, but hopefully shining the light on their deaths will save others."

Go Hayden go