Celebrity News:

Celebrities including Heroes star Hayden Panettiere and former Home and Away actress Isabel Lucas took to the waters off the coast of Japan yesterday in a bid to save a pod of dolphins from slaughter.

The eco-friendly stunt ended in a violent confrontation at sea with Japanese fisherman taking part in the annual dolphin cull.

The 30 protesters paddled out on surfboards in an attempt to reach the dolphins that were being driven into a nearby cove to be killed.

Panettiere, Lucas and the other Australian and American protesters were intercepted by Japanese fishing boats before they could reach the dolphins.

Fisherman used the boats propellers to block the surfers and at one point, struck out with a boathook.

The violent confrontation lasted more than 10 minutes before the surfers were forced back to the beach.

"It was really frightening," Panettiere said. "Some of us were hit by the boathook, but in the end all we really worried about was the dolphins."

Panettiere is a committed marine conservationist and keen surfer.

It is believed that the pod of dolphins were all killed.

"One little baby dolphin stuck his head out and kinda looked at me and the thought that its no longer with us is really hard to take," Panettiere said in tears.

Once the incident was over, the group of surfers, and Panettiere immediately drove to Osaka airport and left the country to avoid arrest by Japanese police.