Rescued piglets served as sausages

You’ve heard the saying out of the frying pan and into the fire? Well, these piglets did the opposite.

In February, firefighters saved 18 baby pigs and two full-grown sows from a fire at a U.K. farm. After six months of fattening up, the piglets met their end as farmer Rachel Rivers repaid the heroes for their brave actions by slaughtering the babies into delicious sausages.

That brings a whole new meaning to “saving the bacon.”

Rivers knew she’d face some backlash from animal welfare activists but wanted to thank the firefighters anyway. From The Guardian:

Rivers, who farms near Pewsey, accepted that some vegetarians and animal rights campaigners would not be happy.

But she said: “This was just a token gesture to the fire service. They were over the moon with them. This is just what we do – we are not an animal sanctuary. We give the pigs the best opportunity and the best life they could have for six months.”

In light of this, PETA has a special gift for the fire and rescue crew. From BBC News:

“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,” said spokesman Mimi Bekhechi.

It’s true that the firefighters were really saving stock, and not “lives.” But this is the world we live in.

[The Guardian/BBC News]

About Jesse Kramer

Jesse is a writer and editor for The Comeback. He has also worked for SI.com and runs The Catch and Shoot, a college basketball website based in Chicago. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow Jesse on Twitter @Jesse_Kramer.