Saving the bacon has its rewards for firemen
When a fire crew was called to a barn blaze, they found themselves trying to rescue 18 piglets. They got them out alive, and the farmer expressed her gratitude with a gift of some sausages ... made from the pigs. The gesture, though welcomed by the firemen, has drawn the ire of animal activists.
MONTHS after firefighters rescued a litter of piglets from a burning barn, a farm has thanked them for their work by sending them the same pigs – in the form of sausages.
Although the gift may have seemed like an appropriate gesture, it has been criticised by animal rights campaigners who have forced the firefighters to delete a post thanking the farmer and praising her sausages.
The fire crew had battled a blaze at the farm, in Milton Lilbourne, Wilts, six months ago, and they managed to save 18 two-week-old piglets and two sows from the flames, which destroyed 60 tonnes of hay.
Rachel Rivers, from organic Lawn Farm, repaid their bravery with the gift of sausages, which the crew barbecued on Monday.
Pewsey Fire Station wrote on Facebook: “Exactly six months and one day since firefighters Olsen and Richardson rescued 18 piglets from a farm in Milton we got to sample the fruits of our labour from that February night.
“Huge thank you to Rachel Rivers for dropping them off for us to sample.
“Highly recommended by Pewsey Fire Station’s crew and if any one of our followers is having a bank holiday BBQ this weekend then check out these sausages, they are fantastic.”
Ms Rivers said: “I wanted to thank them. I promised them at the time I’d bring down some sausages for them, which they were all pleased about.
She added: “I’m sure vegetarians will hate this. We farm and this is what we do. You can’t keep them as pets.”
A spokesman for the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service told the BBC yesterday: “Our thanks to the farmer for her generosity. We can tell no porkies, the sausages were fantastic.”
However, the fire station’s online post has since been deleted after outraged vegetarians kicked up a fuss on the Facebook page. Roman Thompson posted: “I was very upset to learn that your crew enjoyed the meat from the pigs you rescued earlier.
“How come you save lives of sentient beings and [then] support someone who kills them and enjoy their flesh afterwards?”
The station responded by saying: “We recognise that this has caused offence to some – we apologise for this and as such have removed the post.”
Several large animal rights organisations added their voice to the criticism.
Mimi Bekhechi, director of international programmes at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), said: “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.
“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.”
She added: “When the emergency services rescue animals, Peta thanks them with vegan chocolates, not the animals’ barbecued flesh.”
Samantha Calvert, of the Vegan Society, said: “The reality is that all farm animals are going to be treated in that way. They would always have had short lives, they would always have been slaughtered for food. They saved them because that made sense from a profit point of view. It’s the same situation that’s true of every single pork chop, every sausage, every slice of bacon.”
Last night the fire service said it would make no further comment.
‘What if these firefighters had saved a human child or a dog? Pigs feel fear and pain in just the same way’