Hayden Panettiere in dolphin protest, stranding in Iran, tool use seen again in wild dolphins
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Hayden Panettiere , who stars as the indestructible cheerleader Cliare Bennet on the hit TV series Heroes , was involved in a dolphin protest in Japan this week . In association with the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd , Hayden and a group of surfers paddled into a small bay in Taiji Japan, where Japanese fisherman were preparing to slaughter a group of dolphins as part of their annual dolphin drive hunt. After a dramatic confrontation with the fisherman, an emotional Hayden returned to shore unable to prevent the hunt from taking place, and gave a brief interview with Sky News (AUDIO CLIP) . In a statement released last Friday, Hayden discussed her reasons for joining the protest: She stated: "Because I am in the public eye I feel the need to be a voice of worthy and important causes whose efforts impact the lives of every person on Earth. These animals are being brutally and unnecessarily slaughtered – and who are we to say to they have less of a right to exist than we do."
Sky News Report *caution* graphic footage
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Hayden's interview with Access Hollywood
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Article about the protest in People
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A mass stranding of striped dolphins in Iran has environmentalists concerned . Over 150 striped dolphins have been found stranded near the southern port of Jask in Iran as part of a mass stranding that began in the end of September. Local Iranian scientists are guessing that the dolphins drowned after becoming entangled in fishing nets. Other possible explanations for the strandings include acute poisoning due to a toxin in the dolphins’ habitat, infectious disease, and exposure to low frequency active sonar used by military organizations. Iranian officials stated that the cause of the strandings remains a mystery.
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Scientists form Australia are reporting a sighting of tool use by a wild Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin . An adult Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin was observed by researchers in Hinchinbrook Channel , in northeast Queensland, Australia, carrying a sponge on its rostrum. Researchers suggest that the dolphin was somehow using the sponge as a tool during foraging. This is the second species of dolphin to be observed using tools in the wild – researchers had initially observed Indo-pacific Bottlenose dolphins using sponges in a similar fashion.