Little Hayden Panettiere went to Japan last month in order to save some dolphins from getting slaughtered. Don’t get mad at me for calling her little, she looks like she’s twelve. It actually seemed like a surprisingly noble and brave thing to do, and considering what most celebrities do to get attention, I’d take saving a dolphin any day. Hayden joined the group Save the Whales and used a surfboard to paddle into a cove in southwestern Japan near Taiji. The dolphins were being corralled into the cove to be slaughtered and eaten. While the group did their best, they were blocked by a fishing boat and had to turn back. Hayden was videotaped crying pretty hard afterwards. I admire her bravery, not many 18-year-olds would do something like that. The group left Japan right away to avoid being arrested, but a warrant has been issued for Panettiere.

Hayden Panettiere’s heroic dolphin-saving mission last month wasn’t without its consequences. “I learned that they have an arrest warrant out for me in Japan,” the Heroes star told E! News exclusively Wednesday. “We just found out.” Panettiere, 18, was part of a convoy of activists from the U.S. and Australia who on Oct. 30 paddled out on surfboards to protest the annual slaughter of dolphins and whales by Japanese fisherman.

Her group attempted to reach a pod of dolphins before it was driven into a nearby cove and massacred, but they were blocked by a fishing boat before they could reach the sea creatures. “It was really frightening,” Panettiere said at the time. “But in the end, all we really worried about was the dolphins.” After returning to shore, the group headed directly to Osaka and left the country to avoid being arrested for trespassing by the Japanese national police.

Now it looks like the scare’s not quite over for the actress. When asked what the arrest warrant could mean, Panettiere replied, “Potentially jail, but I doubt it. I guess they could come here and get us, but probably not.” She said she was thrilled that the incident was receiving international attention, as it could result in educating others about the dolphins’ plight.

[From E! News]

I doubt the Japanese have nothing better to do than actually arrest Hayden Panettiere, but who the hell knows. Hayden’s a little mistaken in her worry that they “could come here and get us.” They could try to extradite her, but again I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t work out so well. I would think the arrest warrant being issued was more a formality and a response to her breaking the law. In Washington state animal rights activists have been protesting for years about the Native American Makah tribe’s annual whale hunt. Protesters have been arrested but generally not charged for trying to interfere with it. No matter what, it’s pretty cool that Hayden was willing to stick her neck out there and actually do something instead of just writing a check.

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