SHORT TAKES : Animal Rightists Target Cybill

Animal-rights activists marched outside actress Cybill Shepherd’s future home to protest her work with a cosmetics company that they say tortures rabbits and mice during laboratory testing.

“We want Ms. Shepherd to carry a message of compassion to the people at L’Oreal, but she has even refused to answer our letters,” said Kathy Snow Guillermo, director of the Caring Consumer Campaign of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Shepherd, who could not be reached for comment, was targeted by about 75 protesters Saturday because she is a leading model for the Paris-based L’Oreal.

Jim Nixon, an executive vice president with Cosmair Inc., L’Oreal’s U.S. distributor, said animal testing is done in rare cases when a product could be toxic or dangerous to humans.

Shepherd co-stars in the new movie “Texasville” and starred in the television series “Moonlighting.”