NAMES IN THE NEWS : Bardot Takes to TV for Elephants

PARIS —  Brigitte Bardot, whose breakaway towels kept eyes glued to the screen in her cinema “sex-kitten” days, made her television debut today to save the elephant by putting ivory dealers out of business.

After 16 years of avoiding cameras, the 54-year-old Bardot’s passion for animal welfare finally persuaded her to host a series of six hard-hitting documentaries aimed at halting reckless poaching for profit and cruelty in the name of science.

“There were 2.5 million elephants in 1960. Today there are 400,000 and they’re being killed at the rate of 100,000 a year,” she told the audience. “That’s one every 4 1/2 minutes slaughtered for . . . hideous, useless ivory junk.”