Firefighters in the UK received an unusual thank you for their help this week: sausages made from piglets they had saved from a barn fire.

"Exactly six months and one day since firefighters rescued 18 piglets from a fire, we got to sample the fruits of our labours from that February night," Pewsey Fire Station staff posted on Facebook.

"Huge thank you to Rachel Rivers for dropping them off for us to sample. Highly recommended by Pewsey fire station crew and if any one of our followers is having a bank holiday BBQ this weekend then check out these sausages, they are fantastic."

While the gift may raise eyebrows, Ms Rivers said the pigs led a good life on the farm.

"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 told the BBC.

"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'."

Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) called the move "disturbing".

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"These poor piglets were no better off for escaping the fire only to be put back into it six months later after being subjected to the horrifying experience of the abattoir," PETA's Mimi Bekhechi said.

"What if these firefighters had 'saved' a human child or a dog? Pigs feel fear and pain in just the same way as they do."

Pewsey Fire Station has since removed their Facebook post about the sausages, and apologised.

"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."