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Following a recent mission of dolphin-saving mercy off the coast of Japan to prevent the slaughter of her favorite ocean-bound mammals (a commemorative tattoo of a pair of playful bottlenoses circling her navel is being custom-designed as we speak), indestructible Heroes cheerleader Hayden Panettiere now finds herself a fugitive from international justice for her interference in Pacific Rim commerce. Reports E! News:

"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. [...]

And the actress isn't letting a little thing like a warrant keep her from her cause. "I'd do it again," she said. "Very possibly, might do it again."

The defiant Panettiere further explained that she realizes she needs to significantly raise the stakes of her next outlaw act of compassion for her beloved, endangered sea creatures if she's to draw continuing attention to their plight, lest the easily distracted celebrity press move on to whatever issue Ugly Betty decides to take up. Utterly unafraid of the consequences of returning to the scene of her previous crime, the actress discussed the possibility of inviting an E! camera crew to follow her as she paddles her surfboard directly into the gaping maw of a Minke whale, hoping that Japanese fishermen will spare its life knowing that one of America's most beloved TV stars is staging a heartfelt protest deep inside its belly. And, should those whalers prove unsympathetic to her dramatic display, she'll detonate the ten pounds of explosives she's hidden underneath her cheerleading sweater, hoping to take out a fleet of fishing boats as she makes the ultimate sacrifice for her cause.