Pamela Anderson has long been a defender of animal rights, but now she has a new cause: being reunited with her is-he-or-isn’t-he boyfriend Julian Assange.

On March 28, it was announced that the Ecuadorean embassy in London — where the WikiLeaks mastermind has been holed up since 2012 — had revoked Assange’s visitor privileges and Internet access. Ecuador’s government, which granted him citizenship in January, chalked it up to Assange having breached “a written [agreement] not to issue messages that might interfere with other states.”

In a statement to The Post, Anderson — a frequent guest of Assange’s since they were introduced in 2014 — said: “I’m deeply concerned about his health and well-being. His human rights have been abused before without sunlight but this is extraordinary. Incommunicado. No visitors. No Internet. No phone calls. No access to outside world.”

“This is torture — a slow, painful death [at] the hands of the US [and] UK. I feel for Ecuador. They have received so much pressure.”

But insiders question the former “Baywatch” star’s true intentions — saying her much-photographed assignations at the embassy have created a way for Anderson to stay in the spotlight as her acting and modeling career has quieted down.

“Pam thrives on attention from famous men, and she thrives on press,” said a fashion designer who knows her. “It’s no accident she shows up to the embassy in those sexy outfits. They are all very contrived.”

For a Jan. 22 visit, the bombshell dressed like a vixen from a spy film, clad in all black — sky-high heels, a second-skin turtleneck showcasing her pneumatic bosom, giant sunglasses, even a scarf over her blond hair.

A Malibu, Calif., neighbor of Anderson’s says that the publicity benefits more than just the star’s ego: “She needs to stay in the public eye. She doesn’t have enough money to be a full-time philanthropist [like she wants] — that’s why she did this book [“Lust for Love,” a relationship tome with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach]. It’s not like she’s on TV or movies recently. And she’s got expensive taste. That look doesn’t come cheap at age 50.”

Assange, 46, stays in the embassy to avoid possible arrest by UK authorities over a bail violation and extradition to the US related to unlawfully distributed documents. But one of the bright spots in his lonely days has been the actress.

According to a source, he has a “deep crush” on Anderson, driven in part by the fact that “she’s just out of reach. Julian has a thing for blondes and he’s always been quite the womanizer. But Pam’s much more intelligent than most women with that kind of look — she’s no bimbo.”

The odd couple were introduced by activist fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, a WikiLeaks acolyte who regularly visits Assange at the embassy and even dedicated her spring/summer 2017 collection to him.

“She loves Pam and knew they’d have mutual interests,” said a former Westwood employee. “She didn’t introduce them as a proper [romantic] setup. But Viv does fantasize that [if Assange is freed] he and Pam would really be together. She thinks that together they would change the world.”

Over the years, Assange has hosted a star-studded lineup of visitors, including Lady Gaga, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, rapper MIA and John Cusack. And, apparently, a steady stream of women.

“He’s had a lot of so-called ‘girlfriends’ visit him there before Pam [came on the scene],” said a source close to one of those women. “They were the kind of groupies who fall for men in prison.”

(WikiLeaks did not respond to requests for comment on Assange’s behalf.)

Making matters more confusing, Anderson has been dating Adil Rami, a 32-year-old soccer star for Marseille, since 2017. But as she told a Sydney radio show, “I’ve spent more time talking to Julian than all of my ex-husbands combined!” Then she took to her blog to report to the world that the WikiLeaks founder’s “a gentleman, extremely smart, resilient, sexy.”

Asked about this by Grazia magazine, Anderson played coy: “I don’t want to say anything about whether there’s a romance. So, let’s say we’re just ‘good friends.’”

Whatever their true nature, the tête-a-têtes — to which Anderson brings vegan fare from Whole Foods and Pret A Manger — have reportedly drawn scrutiny from the feds.

On March 15, Radar Online quoted a source claiming that the FBI is looking to grill Anderson about the relationship.

Assange has done nothing to quash the romance rumors — perhaps because they’re true, or perhaps because he loves Anderson’s star power: “Over the last two years, she has done more to try and get this Australian — me — out of detention without charge.” (Sweden had issued an international arrest warrant for Assange in 2012, related to allegations of rape, but dropped all charges in 2017.)

In January 2017, Anderson sent a letter to then-President Obama asking for Assange’s pardon — and a picture of him with a kitten gifted to him by his children (Assange, who refuses to discuss his private life, reportedly has five children by as many women).

And she’s certainly not holding back her words now, as she works to have some degree of Assange’s freedom reinstated.

“Ecuador promised to protect him against political persecution, not just protect him against a death penalty. And he must be protected,” Anderson told The Post. “We are all Julian Assange.”