Brigitte Bardot has called on François Hollande to grant a "presidential pardon" to hundreds of wild mountain goats in the Alps which are due to be culled because many of them are infected with brucellosis, reports The Telegraph.
The former film star turned animal rights campaigner says more "humane" measures such as vaccination should be carried out on the Ibex goats in the Bargy area of the Haute-Savoie region.
Seventy of the animals have already been shot since the cull began on Thursday. Around 200 more are due to be killed to try and prevent the spread of the bacterial infection that can spread to humans through ingestion of infected food products.
The plan to cull the herd comes after 200 of the goats were slaughtered in 2013, after brucellosis was found in two children who had eaten cheese made from unpasteurised goat’s milk.
But Ms Bardot and other animal rights campaigners, some of whom plan to contest the decision in court, say that culling will not be effective in stopping the disease and other measures such as vaccination should be attempted.
“By ordering the slaughter of the Ibex of Bargy, the prefect (the senior local official) has condemned to death individuals of a protected species,” Ms Bardot in an open letter to the French president published on the website of the animal rights foundation she runs.
“I call on you to grant a presidential pardon to the 400 Ibex under threat in Bargy,” she said.