Activism: On October 31, 2007 Panettiere was involved in a violent confrontation with Japanese fishermen as she tried to disrupt their annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Wakayama. She paddled out on a surfboard, with five other surfers from Australia and the United States in an attempt to reach a pod of dolphins to stop them being driven into a nearby cove and killed, but they were intercepted by a fishing boat before they could reach the dolphins. The fishermen used the boat’s propellers to block their way and at one point struck out with a boat hook in a confrontation that lasted more than 10 minutes before the surfers were forced to return to the beach. The surfers drove straight to Osaka airport and left the country to avoid being arrested for trespassing by the Japanese police. Many Japanese consider this kind of act as an attack on their culture. Taiji’s fishery cooperative union argues that these protesters “continue willfully to distort the facts about this fishery” and protester’s agendas are ” based neither on international law nor on science but rather on emotion for economic self-interest.” Hayden claims that an arrest warrant on her has been issued in Japan for her interference in the dolphin hunt. In November 2007, Hayden was awarded the “Compassion in Action Award” from the animal rights group PETA for her efforts to stop the dolphin hunt in Japan.

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