It seems like just yesterday we were watching little Hayden Panettiere steal the show from her older co-stars in 2000's Remember the Titans. Now she is a leading lady on the hit show Nashville and a mom to 8-month-old daughter Kaya with partner Vladimir Klitschko. How time flies!
Although she is a devoted mother and busy actress—Nashville's fourth season premieres in September—Panettiere has always made time for one of her greatest passions: animals. The former Heroes star loved them from a young age, but a visit to an endangered breeding ground for gray whales in Mexico moved her to become an activist at 15. And since then Panettiere has been working to protect the whale and dolphin populations. Some highlights: She became a spokesman for The Whaleman Foundation, famously protested pilot whale killing in Japan (which was captured in the 2009 documentary The Cove), and met with the White House Council on Environmental Quality about conservation efforts.
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But Panettiere isn't just about ocean mammals—she loves all kinds of creatures. See 13 times Panettiere cuddled up to a cute animal, starting with the one above!
Look who I found! #hedgehog pic.twitter.com/qKm80DSwYc
— hayden panettiere (@haydenpanettier) October 17, 2013
Thanks for bein a good sport @michaelstrahan ; )) pic.twitter.com/DWlENW1T49
— hayden panettiere (@haydenpanettier) October 9, 2013
Another beautiful puppy rescued off the streets : ) pic.twitter.com/EnPcVmkN6F
— hayden panettiere (@haydenpanettier) September 11, 2013
Maybe the cutest pup ever! pic.twitter.com/43LevV5PgG
— hayden panettiere (@haydenpanettier) July 29, 2013
Lemur love at Parrot Jungle Trail....great to see a place treat their animals so well! pic.twitter.com/iTBefaDG
— hayden panettiere (@haydenpanettier) January 21, 2013
Snake love : ) pic.twitter.com/kL65dBVL
— hayden panettiere (@haydenpanettier) January 17, 2013
Happy New Year!! Saved a rabbit from a life of being pulled out of a hat last night...#offtoagoodstart : ) pic.twitter.com/O6N8eaSP
— hayden panettiere (@haydenpanettier) January 1, 2013
So happy. It's Sunday night and I have a date! pic.twitter.com/RicfD4jQ
— hayden panettiere (@haydenpanettier) December 3, 2012
Love this pup pic.twitter.com/2XkI8wHC
— hayden panettiere (@haydenpanettier) November 25, 2012
Bonus:
