The elephants, who are currently in a zoo in Lyon, became something of a cause célèbre when the authorities ordered them to be put down last month.
Bardot’s animal rights foundation has drafted numerous letters in their defence and a petition signed by 71,000 also won the support of Princesses Caroline and Stephanie of Monaco.
The outcry resulted in the animals being granted a temporary reprieve over Christmas.
Their owner, Gilbert Edelstein, the director of the Pinder circus, began legal action in an attempt to block a court
ruling that the animals posed a public health risk and must be put down.
He insists that neither of the elephants has tuberculosis and that they were wrongly diagnosed in 2010.
“If one wants to kill a dog, they claim he has rabies,” he said. “If one wants to kill an elephant, they claim he has tuberculosis.”
The animals have been isolated and kept from public view at Lyon’s zoo, The Golden Head Park, for two years.
