Hayden Panettiere became a household name playing a hero on TV, but to animals, she was the real deal.

Over many years, Golden Globe nominee Panettiere spoke out boldly against keeping highly intelligent marine animals confined for human entertainment. She protested on their behalf, joined other surfers in paddling into the notorious capture and killing cove in Taiji, Japan, to save a pod of dolphins, and appeared in the ground-breaking documentary The Cove.

She signed a “friend of the court” brief supporting the National Marine Fisheries Service’s denial of a permit for the Georgia Aquarium to import 18 wild-caught beluga whales from Russia and appealed to President Vladimir Putin to release nearly 100 belugas and orcas slated for transfer to marine parks. The Russian government returned the cetaceans to the sea and banned their capture.

She never stopped denouncing marine parks like SeaWorld, calling their confinement of complex, far-ranging marine mammals in concrete tanks “disgusting.”

Panettiere also went to bat for other species, including halting filming on the set of Heroes to save a flock of birds from a crewmember blasting them with a leaf blower. She was never afraid to call out cruelty wherever she witnessed it, and we hope her legions of fans will honor her legacy by refusing to be silent when animals are suffering.

The world has lost a kind soul and the animals a fierce ally, and everyone at PETA holds her memory close.

The post Rest in Peace, Hayden Panettiere appeared first on PETA.