https://www.fondationbrigittebardot.fr/ website
In the second half of the 20th century, animal protection was often treated in public debate as a minor cause, sentimental at best and unserious at worst. It sat uncomfortably beside politics, economics, and diplomacy, and was rarely allowed to intrude on questions of trade, tradition, or national sovereignty. Those who tried to force it into public debate were usually dismissed as eccentrics or moral scolds.
Death of our Founder and President, Mrs. Brigitte Bardot
In 1962, at just 28 years old, Brigitte Bardot made a lasting impression by appearing on the iconic television program "5 colonnes à la une" to demand that animals be stunned before slaughter, demonstrating her early commitment to animal rights. A true pioneer, at 39 she gave up the limelight and the world of entertainment to dedicate her fame and unwavering determination to animals and the most vulnerable, such as the elderly.
She traveled to the Arctic ice floes in 1977 to help baby seals, an emblematic act of her fight for the protection of vulnerable species.
Under her leadership, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, established in 1986, became a major player in animal protection in France and around the world. Forty years later, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation has rescued over 12,000 animals in its "Ark of BB," operates in 70 countries, manages 4 shelters, employs 300 people, and has hundreds of volunteers and 40,000 donors.
By frequently lobbying politicians to advance legislation, securing convictions for animal abusers, carrying out rescues every day, and raising awareness among a wide audience, the Foundation has become a global leader, whose continued existence Brigitte Bardot ensured.
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation wishes to honor the memory of an exceptional woman who gave everything for a world more respectful of animals. Her legacy lives on through the actions and campaigns that the Foundation continues with the same passion and unwavering commitment to her ideals.
We extend our sincere condolences to her family, loved ones, the municipality of Saint-Tropez and its residents, and all those who share this cause.
The Foundation will continue, more than ever, to champion the work of Brigitte Bardot.
One figure helped shift that balance by refusing to treat animals as a side issue. She did not argue from policy papers or institutional authority. She argued from outrage, persistence, and the leverage of fame, insisting that suffering without a human voice was still suffering, and that wild animals were among the most exposed of all.
That figure was Brigitte Bardot. Known first as a film star, she abandoned cinema while still a global celebrity and redirected her public life toward animal advocacy. What distinguished her work was not only its longevity, but its scope. She did not limit her concern to pets or laboratory animals. From the 1960s onward, wildlife became a central focus of her activism.
Her most consequential campaigns targeted the commercial seal hunt. Bardot traveled to the ice floes of Canada and later to Arctic regions, confronting hunters and drawing international media attention to the killing of harp seal pups. The imagery was powerful, but she framed the issue in blunt terms. In a statement widely reported by the Associated Press, she said, “Man is an insatiable predator.” The problem, as she saw it, was not local practice but an economic system that treated wild animals as raw material.
She extended that argument to other forms of wildlife exploitation. Bardot opposed whaling, including Japanese and Norwegian programs, criticized fur trapping and fur farming, and denounced bullfighting as the ritualized killing of animals for entertainment. These positions earned her political enemies and accusations of cultural arrogance. She did not soften her stance. In interviews, she often argued that tradition did not excuse cruelty, and that wild animals suffered most because they were pursued without restraint or representation.
In 1986 she formalized this work by creating the Fondation Brigitte Bardot, which was explicitly charged with protecting both domestic animals and wildlife. The foundation funded anti-poaching efforts, wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centers, and legal actions against illegal trafficking. It also lobbied governments and international bodies, including the European Union, on hunting regulations and wildlife trade. These activities continued even when Bardot herself withdrew from public appearances, suggesting an institutional commitment rather than a personal campaign.
Her language remained uncompromising. In an interview marking her 73rd birthday, reported by AP, she said, “I don’t care about my past glory. That means nothing in the face of an animal that suffers, since it has no power, no words to defend itself.” She sometimes connected her empathy for wildlife to her own experience with relentless attention, telling journalists that she understood animals that were hunted or trapped.
Bardot’s activism was not always comfortable for its audience, and it was not designed to be. It treated wildlife protection as a moral question that could not be postponed or delegated. Long after she left the screen, she continued to insist that the treatment of wild animals was a measure of modern society’s restraint. The argument did not depend on consensus, only on repetition and refusal to step aside.
Bardot died on December 28, 2025 in Saint-Tropez, France. She was 91.
Brigitte Bardot in London in the 1960s. Photo: Keystone/Getty
