Brigitte Bardot threatens to seek Russian passport in protest over France's treatment of two circus elephants, according to reports.
Former French screen goddess Brigitte Bardot on Friday threatened to follow Gerard Depardieu in asking for a Russian passport, in protest not at tax hikes, but at the treatment of two circus elephants.
Bardot, 78, issued a press release saying that because the French "powers that be have the cowardice and impudence to kill the two elephants ... I've decided to seek Russian nationality in order to flee this country, which is nothing but an animal cemetery."
"If those in power are cowardly and impudent enough to kill the elephants... then I have decided I will ask for Russian nationality to get out of this country which has become nothing more than an animal cemetery," Bardot said in a statement.
The animals, named Baby and Nepal and owned by a touring circus, are thought to be carrying tuberculosis and were ordered to be put down by a court in Lyon, southern France, on Friday as a precautionary measure. Local officials ordered them put down, saying they posed too great a threat to public health.
But the circus director backed a campaign to save their lives, and wants Baby and Nepal returned to his care.
An online petition linked off the Pinder Circus Web site demands that President Francois Hollande spare their lives. The petition has more than 78,000 names. Princess Stephanie and Princess Caroline of Monaco have also taken up the cause.
