Heroes star Hayden joins whale protest (+photos)

Reuters

HERE COMES THE HERO: Hayden Panettiere watches as a Japanese police officer holds up an activist's passport to be photographed near the site of a protest against the killing of dolphins.

Reuers

TOGETHER WE STAND: Activists including actresses Hayden Panettiere and Isabel Lucas at the site of a protest against the killing of dolphins.

Reuters

NO SWAY: Activists are prodded with a pole by a fisherman at the site of a protest against the killing of dolphins in Taiji.

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Heroes star Hayden Panettiere has joined a high-profile protest in Japan at the site where thousands of pilot whales are slaughtered every year.

Panettiere 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."

-With AAP and SMH.

- © Fairfax NZ News