NAMES IN THE NEWS : Bardot Wins Castration Case
ST. TROPEZ, France — A French court ruled today that actress Brigitte Bardot was justified in ordering a gardener to castrate Charly, a donkey left in her care and put out to graze with an old mare.
The court said that the donkey’s owner, Jean-Pierre Manivet, “created a false notoriety” around the case, and fined him the equivalent of $3,300 to be donated to the animal protection foundation that bears the actress’s name.
Bardot, an animal-rights activist once known as the “sex kitten” for her bare appearances in French films, lives here in a large villa surrounded by animals.
Manivet left Charly with Bardot’s gardener in June. But Bardot said that the donkey’s amorous interest in her 32-year-old mare Duchess was excessive and she feared mating could be fatal for the old horse.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
