Piglets that were saved from fire served for dinner at fire station

(Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)

Pigs that were rescued from certain death in a February barn fire ended up returning as sausages six months later to the firefighters who rescued them.

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A farm manager in Wiltshire, England, thought that giving the Pewsey fire department the free food was a way of saying thanks.

"I gave those animals the best quality of life I could ever give until the time they go to slaughter and they go into the food chain. You do feel sad at the end of it ... but to bring them down for [the firefighters] was a good way of saying 'thank you'," Rachel Rivers told BBC.

The fire department barbecued the sausages, and posted them to their Facebook page. Following some backlash, the post was later taken down.

"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."

A spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) responded to the gift by promising to send vegan sausages to area fire and rescue.

“We'll be sending Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service packs of vegan sausages so that they can see how easy it is to truly be heroes for pigs - by sparing them all suffering,” spokesperson Mimi Bekhechi told BBC.

Read the original story here.