The Saunterer favors those who are frank in words and action, and high on the list is Brigitte Bardot (“All the harm done to animals harms me.”), about whom biographer Ginette Vincendeau wrote:
Her first major campaign was against the slaughter of baby seals in Canada, an issue drawn to her attention in February 1968 by the writer Marguerite Yourcenar. She flew there in March 1977 with a party of journalists and Greenpeace campaigners to plead with Canadian hunters to end the brutal killing of seals for their fur. Paris Match featured a now legendary picture of Bardot cradling a baby seal on its cover and the diary of her campaign was entitled, ‘To save baby seals, she braved the cold, storms and ridicule.’ She also faced the hostility of the hunters and of sections of the media, a taste of things to come. Over the years Bardot has battled against any and all forms of animal maltreatment: the raising, transport and slaughter of cattle for human consumption (she became a vegetarian), the killing of tigers for medicines in China, the hunting of dolphins in Denmark, the abandonment of pets in France, whaling in Japan, halal slaughter methods, the shooting of woodpigeon in southwest France, bear fighting and so on. She is passionate about the banning of fur, and her Foundation website has a ‘name and shame’ section for female celebrities who continue to wear it.
(Quoted from page 124 of Brigitte Bardot, by Ginette Vincendeau. A BFI book published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.)
For a brief biography of Brigitte Bardot, click here. For images of or relating to Brigitte Bardot, click here.
For pictures of Brigitte Bardot with baby seals, click here.
For the Brigitte Bardot Foundation website, click here.
For Ginette Vincendeau’s King’s College homepage, click here. For images of or relating to Ginette Vincendeau, click here.
Her first major campaign was against the slaughter of baby seals in Canada, an issue drawn to her attention in February 1968 by the writer Marguerite Yourcenar. She flew there in March 1977 with a party of journalists and Greenpeace campaigners to plead with Canadian hunters to end the brutal killing of seals for their fur. Paris Match featured a now legendary picture of Bardot cradling a baby seal on its cover and the diary of her campaign was entitled, ‘To save baby seals, she braved the cold, storms and ridicule.’ She also faced the hostility of the hunters and of sections of the media, a taste of things to come. Over the years Bardot has battled against any and all forms of animal maltreatment: the raising, transport and slaughter of cattle for human consumption (she became a vegetarian), the killing of tigers for medicines in China, the hunting of dolphins in Denmark, the abandonment of pets in France, whaling in Japan, halal slaughter methods, the shooting of woodpigeon in southwest France, bear fighting and so on. She is passionate about the banning of fur, and her Foundation website has a ‘name and shame’ section for female celebrities who continue to wear it.
(Quoted from page 124 of Brigitte Bardot, by Ginette Vincendeau. A BFI book published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.)
For a brief biography of Brigitte Bardot, click here. For images of or relating to Brigitte Bardot, click here.
For pictures of Brigitte Bardot with baby seals, click here.
For the Brigitte Bardot Foundation website, click here.
For Ginette Vincendeau’s King’s College homepage, click here. For images of or relating to Ginette Vincendeau, click here.
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