A group of firefighters in England who rescued a litter of piglets a few months ago ate sausages made out of the animals they saved.

BBC News reports that the farmer responsible for breeding the pigs, Rachel Rivers, thanked the Pewsey fire station for rescuing the pigs in February by making sausages out of the animals.

The firefighters rescued the pigs several months ago after after a barn on Rivers’ farm caught fire. Rivers told the firefighters she would give them sausages made from the pigs, which were bred to be slaughtered for food, to show her gratitude.

“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,” she said.

A spokesperson for the fire department thanked Rivers for the sausages, saying they were “highly recommended.”

“We can tell no porkies, the sausages were fantastic,” the spokesman said Tuesday.

The Pewsey fire station posted photos of the meat on Facebook, but the photos quickly caused controversy among social media users.

“What a shame that people who are supposed to save lives rejoice at the brutal death of these innocent, gentle, loving beings,” one Facebook commenter wrote. “Lost all respect for these so called lifesaving firefighters.”

Another Facebook user disagreed, saying that the station was right to accept the meat from the farmer as thanks for helping her.

“You should not have to apologise for accepting a kind offer from a person who you helped,” the Facebook user wrote.

Other groups, such as the animal rights activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said they would send the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, the rescue service in charge of the fire station, vegan sausages to protest their decision to eat the sausages.

“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,” PETA’s Mimi Bekhechi said.

The station took the photos down and apologized for the post after receiving an onslaught of negative comments.