Ledger music video debuts online

The video was unfinished when Heath Ledger passed away in 2008

A music video directed by the late Heath Ledger for US rock band Modest Mouse has premiered online.

The track, King Rat, which was created to raise awareness of commercial whaling off the coast of his native Australia, was posted on MySpace.

The six-minute animated video shows whales and dolphins aboard a ship, fishing for humans in the water.

It ends with the message: "This began with our friend, a great defender of life, and was completed in his spirit."

Watch Modest Mouse's King Rat video on MySpace

The video was unfinished at the time of the star's death in January 2008, but a video company in which he had been a partner completed it in his honour.

In an interview with VH1 in 2007, Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock spoke about how the collaboration with Ledger came about.

"Heath and I have a mutual friend and when we were in Australia, some of us in the band went out on a boat with him and his family and friends and talked about the idea," he said.

"The idea sort of dropped, but then he just sent me an email saying that he wanted to do it."

Proceeds from downloads of the video on the US iTunes store during its first month on sale will go toward Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organisation working to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans.

The video was released the same day as Modest Mouse's EP, No One's First, And You're Next.

Ledger had previously directed music videos for Australian hip-hop artist N'fa and the late singer-songwriter Nick Drake.