The fire service saved these pigs bacon in February, now they've had them as sausages! pic.twitter.com/UyZmAYvMiz

A farmer in southern England has thanked the firefighters who saved her piglets from a blazing barn in a most apt way.

Rachel Rivers this week treated crew members at Pewsey Fire Station to a batch of sausages which were made from the very animals they had rescued from the fire at her farm in Milton Lilbourne, Wiltshire, in February.

“I wanted to thank them,” Rivers told the BBC. “I promised them at the time I’d bring down some sausages for them, which they were all pleased about.”

balwan via Getty Images Fire crews in southern England saved 18 piglets from a barn blaze in February. Six months later, the grateful farmer served the animals up as sausages as a gift.

Rivers admitted that vegetarians were likely to “hate this.” But she added, “We farm and this is what we do. You can’t keep them as pets.”

Pewsey Fire Station shared photographs of the gift, which they barbecued, to Facebook on Monday.

“Exactly 6 months and 1 day since FF’s Olsen and Richardson rescued 18 piglets from a farm in Milton we got to sample the fruits of our labor from that February night,” the service wrote, according to the Telegraph.

The post appears to have now been deleted. HuffPost has reached out for further information.

A spokesman for Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, however, told the BBC that it had thanked Rivers “for her generosity.”

“We can tell no porkies, the sausages were fantastic,” he added.