WILTSHIRE, England (WSVN) — A litter of piglets who were rescued from a barn fire were served up as dinner for the very firefighters who saved them.
According to the BBC, the 18 piglets and two sows were rescued from the fire back in February by the Pewsey Fire Department.
The BBC reports that as a thank you, the farm managers gave the firefighters sausages made from the rescued pigs.
The news organization said that the animals were originally given a six-month stay of execution when they were rescued. However, having been reared for meat, they were then slaughtered and delivered as sausages to the fire station team.
The firefighters held a barbecue with the sausages and posted photos to social media, but after a flood of negative responses they have since taken down the pictures from their page, along with issuing an apology.
“In regard to a recent post on this page. We recognise that this has caused offence to some — we apologise for this and as such have removed the post,” they said in the post.
A spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) criticized both the farmers and fire department, telling BBC News the pigs were “no better off” for having been rescued from the February fire.
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