Court to decide fate of elephants

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LYON, France, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The highest French court is set to decide on whether to order a stay of execution for two elephants diagnosed with tuberculosis.

The Conseil d'Etat, or Council of State, is discussing an appeal by the Pinder circus to suspend the euthanasia of the elephants, Baby and Nepal, who have lived in a zoo in Lyon, central France, for the past 10 years, Radio France Internationale reported Monday. Both elephants are 40 years old.

In 2010, several tests found Baby positive for tuberculosis, leading them to be kept away from the public, but only one test found that Nepal was also positive. Both elephants shared a pen with another elephant, Java, who was found to have been infected when she died in 2012.

France's government has already given them a second 40-day stay for more tests after Princess Stephanie of Monaco and Brigitte Bardot joined the cause to save the elephants, but that stay ran out Sunday.

Bardot threatened to copy fellow actor Gerard Depardieu and seek Russian citizenship if the elephants were put down.