Brigitte Bardot Citizenship: Threatens Exile Over Animal Rights

By Emma Koonse, Christian Post Reporter Friday, January 04, 2013

Brigitte Bardot has threatened to renounce her French citizenship on Friday in order to save two sick elephants at a Lyon zoo.

The avid animal rights activist said that French authorities have ignored her "numerous proposals" to save two sick elephants from euthanasia scheduled for this week, reported The Associated Press.

Baby and Nepal, both 42-year-old elephants, are dying of tuberculosis at a Lyon zoo.

In a post on her foundation's website, Bardot declared that she will request citizenship in Russia if the elephants are killed in order to "flee this country that is now just a graveyard for animals."

The 78-year-old former fashion model's threat to leave France came just days Academy Award-winning actor Gerard Depardieu was granted Russian citizenship due to his conflict with the French government.

Depardieu had threatened to move to Belgium to avoid higher taxes, and when French officials criticized his decision, the actor said he would relinquish his French nationality.

This week, Russia's President Vladimir Putin granted Depardieu citizenship to the country by personally signing a decree, according to BBC.

Meanwhile, Bardot said she would follow the same track as Depardieu if French authorities failed to intervene on the situation with the elephants.

The case surrounding the elephants in Lyon's Tete d'Or Zoo has created uproar in the city since last month when a petition was launched over the animals' fate.

Bardot joined the campaign opposing euthanasia when she penned a letter to French President Francois Hollande earlier this week.

As a model, Bardot was one of the best-known in the 1950 and 1960s. In 1969, Bardot's features became the official face of Marianne- France's national emblem meaning Liberty and Reason.

Native to Paris, France, Bardot has lived Saint Tropez in recent years.