A Toronto chef responded to vegans protesting outside his restaurant by cutting up a deer leg and eating meat in front of them.

Michael Hunter, chef and owner of Antler Kitchen and Bar, went to the front of his restaurant window, carrying what appeared to be the raw leg of a deer. Then, to the astonishment of animal rights protesters outside, he began to cut the meat.

One protestor filmed the chef, and said in the background of the clip:

He’s deliberately brought what appears to be a leg of a deer. To taunt the activists, he’s brought the leg of a recently murdered deer to this dining area.

He then turned to the police officers, and wondered if it was “legal” for Hunter to handle raw meat in an eating establishment.

Police entered the restaurant soon after, but did not appear to ask him to stop cutting the meat.

A short while later he returned with a cooked steak, which he began eating leisurely.

Protest organiser Marni Ugar told the National Post:

It made me feel really sad. For me it’s just an animal and it’s an animal that didn’t want to die.

Hunter declined an interview with the National Post, but said in a statement that the restaurant was often the target of animal rights protesters, and said it was “business as usual”.

Some people defended his actions, arguing the protest was disrupting his business.

And said he had a “right” to carve a deer in his restaurant.

Adam Radwanski said on Twitter that he had been there the night the protestors showed up, and though he didn’t see “any great need to antagonise them”, he admitted that he may have “felt differently” if he had worked there.

Others argued provocation wasn’t a useful tactic.

Ironically, the restaurant’s owner is dedicated to buying meat from organic farms, and “doesn’t believe in factory farming”, instead opting for a more humane practise.

In December 2016 he told Foodserviceandhospitality:

One of the reasons I hunt is because I don’t believe in factory farming. We buy from smaller, free-range and organic farms [since selling wild game in Ontario is illegal].