Editing Brigitte Bardot (section)

==Animal rights activism==
Bardot met [[Paul Watson]] in 1977, the same year he founded the [[Sea Shepherd Conservation Society]], during an operation to condemn the massacre of [[Pinniped#Birth and parenting|seal pups]] and [[seal hunting in Canada|seal hunting on the Canadian ice floe]].<ref name="DeBreteuil221024">{{cite news |last=De Breteuil |first=Paul |date=22 October 2024 |title=Brigitte Bardot appelle à la mobilisation pour la libération de l'activiste écologiste Paul Watson |trans-title=Brigitte Bardot calls for rallying for the release of environmental activist Paul Watson |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/brigitte-bardot-appelle-a-la-mobilisation-pour-la-liberation-de-l-activiste-ecologiste-paul-watson-20241022 |url-status=live |language=fr |newspaper=[[Le Figaro]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241111141052/https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/brigitte-bardot-appelle-a-la-mobilisation-pour-la-liberation-de-l-activiste-ecologiste-paul-watson-20241022 |archive-date=11 November 2024 |access-date=11 November 2024}}</ref> In support of animal protection, Bardot went to the [[ice floe]] after being invited by Watson.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cavallaro |first=Régine |date=1 January 2009 |title=Paul Watson, pirate au grand coeur |trans-title=Paul Watson, pirate with a big heart |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/voyage/article/2009/01/01/paul-watson_1339264_3546.html |url-status=live |language=fr |newspaper=[[Le Monde]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241111152751/https://www.lemonde.fr/voyage/article/2009/01/01/paul-watson_1339264_3546.html |archive-date=11 November 2024 |access-date=11 November 2024}}</ref> Bardot posed lying down next to the seal pups; the photos were seen worldwide. Bardot and Watson remained friends.<ref>{{cite news |last=Marie |first=Juliette |date=23 July 2024 |title=Arrestation de Paul Watson: ce qu'il faut savoir sur le fondateur de Sea Shepherd en 6 dates clés |trans-title=Arrest of Paul Watson: what you need to know about the founder of Sea Shepherd in 6 key dates |url=https://www.ouest-france.fr/environnement/protection-oceans/arrestation-de-paul-watson-ce-quil-faut-savoir-sur-le-fondateur-de-sea-shepherd-en-6-dates-cles-79dcca4e-48d4-11ef-ae43-8601f2d4302d |url-status=live |language=fr |newspaper=[[Ouest-France]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240723190627/https://www.ouest-france.fr/environnement/protection-oceans/arrestation-de-paul-watson-ce-quil-faut-savoir-sur-le-fondateur-de-sea-shepherd-en-6-dates-cles-79dcca4e-48d4-11ef-ae43-8601f2d4302d |archive-date=23 July 2024 |access-date=11 November 2024}}</ref>

After appearing in more than 40 motion pictures and recording several music albums, Bardot used her fame to promote [[animal rights]]. In 1986, she established the [[Fondation Brigitte Bardot|Brigitte Bardot Foundation]] for the Welfare and Protection of Animals.<ref name=foundationhistory>{{cite web|url=http://www.fondationbrigittebardot.fr/site/fbb_a.php?IdPere=129&Id=129 |title=Brigitte Bardot foundation for the welfare and protection of animals |work=fondationbrigittebardot.fr |access-date=21 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525101027/http://www.fondationbrigittebardot.fr/site/fbb_a.php?IdPere=129&Id=129 |archive-date=25 May 2011 }}</ref> She became a vegetarian<ref name="follain (2006)">Follain, John (9 April 2006) [https://web.archive.org/web/20111126042547/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article1072649.ece Brigitte Bardot profile], ''[[The Times]] Online: Life & Style''. Retrieved 2 April 2009.</ref> and raised three million francs (about 430,000 1986 US dollars<ref name=convert/>) to fund the foundation by auctioning off jewellery and personal belongings.<ref name=foundationhistory/>

Bardot has been a strong animal rights activist and a major opponent of the consumption of [[horse meat]].<ref name="Borg2017">{{cite news |last=Borg |first=Bertrand |date=30 June 2017 |title='Stop eating horses', Brigitte Bardot tells Maltese |url=https://timesofmalta.com/article/stop-eating-horses-brigitte-bardot-tells-maltese.652026 |url-status=live |newspaper=[[Times of Malta]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241111161450/https://timesofmalta.com/article/stop-eating-horses-brigitte-bardot-tells-maltese.652026 |archive-date=11 November 2024 |access-date=11 November 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=22 July 1984 |title=Brigitte Bardot saves doomed horse |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/07/22/Brigitte-Bardot-saves-doomed-horse/1152459316800/ |url-status=live |work=[[United Press International]] |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20241111161121/https://www.upi.com/amp/Archives/1984/07/22/Brigitte-Bardot-saves-doomed-horse/1152459316800/ |archive-date=11 November 2024 |access-date=11 November 2024 }}</ref>

In 1989, while looking after her neighbour, Jean-Pierre Manivet's donkey, the mare displayed excessive interest in Bardot's older donkey and she subsequently had the neighbour's donkey castrated due to concerns the mating would prove fatal for her mare. The neighbour then sued Bardot, and Bardot later won, with the court ordering Manivet to pay 20,000 francs for creating a "false scandal".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.photoicon.com/online_features/8 |title=Photoicon Online Features: Andy Martin: Brigitte Bardot |publisher=Photoicon.com |access-date=13 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100328070910/http://www.photoicon.com/online_features/8/ |archive-date=28 March 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mrpophistory.com/popculturefiles/askmrpophistory_q359.htm |title=Mr Pop History |publisher=Mr Pop History |access-date=13 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121122440/http://www.mrpophistory.com/popculturefiles/askmrpophistory_q359.htm |archive-date=21 January 2010 }}</ref> 

Bardot urged French television viewers to boycott horse meat and was soon the target of death threats in January 1994. Not backing off from the threats, she sent a letter to the [[Ministry of Agriculture (France)|French Minister of Agriculture]], [[Jean Puech]], calling on him to ban the sale of horse meat.<ref>{{cite news |last=Brozan |first=Nadine |date=29 January 1994 |title=Chronicle |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/29/style/chronicle-024490.html |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=20 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241111163200/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/29/style/chronicle-024490.html |archive-date=11 November 2024 |access-date=11 November 2024 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

Bardot wrote a 1999 letter to Chinese President [[Jiang Zemin]], published in French magazine ''[[VSD (French magazine)|VSD]]'', in which she accused the Chinese of "torturing bears and killing the world's last tigers and rhinos to make [[aphrodisiac]]s".

[[File:BrigitteBardot.jpg|thumb|Bardot in 2002]]
She donated more than US$140,000 over two years in 2001 for a mass [[animal sterilization|sterilization]] and adoption program for [[Street dogs in Bucharest|Bucharest's stray dogs]], estimated to number 300,000.<ref name="bbc2">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1196712.stm |title=Bardot 'saves' Bucharest's dogs|work=BBC News|date=2 March 2001|access-date=13 March 2010}}</ref>

In August 2010, Bardot addressed a letter to Queen [[Margrethe II of Denmark]], appealing for the sovereign to halt the [[Whaling in the Faroe Islands|killing of dolphins]] in the [[Faroe Islands]]. In the letter, Bardot describes the activity as a "macabre spectacle" that "is a shame for Denmark and the Faroe Islands ... This is not a hunt but a mass slaughter ... an outmoded tradition that has no acceptable justification in today's world".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100822192921/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hp3_Cignx_N58PNXB4Qirma6ofdQ Brigitte Bardot pleads to Denmark in dolphin 'slaughter'], AFP, 19 August 2010.</ref>

On 22 April 2011, [[Ministry of Culture (France)|French culture minister]] [[Frédéric Mitterrand]] officially included [[bullfighting]] in the country's cultural heritage. Bardot wrote him a highly critical letter of protest.<ref name=tel>Victoria Ward, Devorah Lauter (4 January 2013). [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9781537/Brigitte-Bardots-sick-elephants-add-to-circus-over-French-wealth-tax-protests.html "Brigitte Bardot's sick elephants add to circus over French wealth tax protests"], telegraph.co.uk; accessed 4 August 2015.</ref> On 25 May 2011, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society renamed its fast interceptor vessel, MV ''Gojira'', as [[MV Brigitte Bardot|MV ''Brigitte Bardot'']] in appreciation of her support.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-110525-1.html |title=Sea Shepherd Conservation Society |publisher=Seashepherd.org |date=25 May 2011 |access-date=25 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703225105/http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-110525-1.html |archive-date=3 July 2011 }}</ref>

From 2013, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, in collaboration with Kagyupa International Monlam Trust of India, operated an annual [[veterinary care]] camp. Bardot committed to the cause of animal welfare in [[Bodhgaya]] over several years.<ref>[http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=34486 Bardot commits to animal welfare in Bodhgaya] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219090050/http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=34486 |date=19 February 2015 }}, phayul.com; accessed 4 August 2015.</ref>

On 23 July 2015, Bardot condemned Australian politician [[Greg Hunt]]'s plan to eradicate 2 million cats to save endangered species such as the [[Black-flanked rock-wallaby|Warru]] and [[night parrot]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-22/brigitte-bardot-condemns-greg-hunt-for-feral-cut-cull-plan/6640846|title=Bardot condemns Australia's plan to cull 2 million feral cats|date=22 July 2015|work=ABC News|access-date=6 June 2017}}</ref>

At the age of 90, Bardot appealed to free Watson, who had been detained in [[Greenland]] since 21 July 2024, when Japan requested his [[extradition]]. Through a request expressed in mid-October 2024 by her lawyers and Sea Shepherd France, Bardot asked [[President of France|French President]] [[Emmanuel Macron]] to grant Watson [[Right of asylum|political asylum]]. Bardot asked Macron to show "a little bit of courage". During that month, she initiated a demonstration in support of Watson in front of the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris]].<ref name="DeBreteuil221024"/> Bardot also wrote a letter to [[Prime Minister of Denmark|Danish Prime Minister]] [[Mette Frederiksen]], asking her to "not choose the camp of the oceans gravediggers".<ref>{{cite news |date=11 August 2024 |title=Manifestations en France contre l'extradition du militant écologiste Paul Watson au Japon |trans-title=Protests in France against the extradition of environmental activist Paul Watson to Japan |url=https://www.liberation.fr/international/europe/manifestations-en-france-contre-lextradition-du-militant-ecologiste-paul-watson-au-japon-20240811_WAW6DVAAQNEKPDYI7H5XTSPOTU/ |url-status=live |language=fr  |newspaper=[[Libération]] |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241111154455/https://www.liberation.fr/international/europe/manifestations-en-france-contre-lextradition-du-militant-ecologiste-paul-watson-au-japon-20240811_WAW6DVAAQNEKPDYI7H5XTSPOTU/ |archive-date=11 November 2024 |access-date=11 November 2024}}</ref>