The 40-year-old woman was given a three-month suspended jail term by a court in Brittany for having slaughtered the pig that she had agreed to take care of for an animal rescue charity, reported Brittany newspaper Le Telegramme.

The pig – named Babe – had been rescued from the slaughterhouse at the age of two months by a local animal rescue activist who cared for him for the next two years.

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The pig ended up as paté. Photo: AFP

However, when the activist moved and no longer had enough space for the pig, she entrusted the animal to one of her neighbours.

The neighbour had signed an adoption contract not to mistreat or slaughter the animal for food.

Unfortunately, the neighbour found him too much trouble to take care of and indeed too big to feed, so she called in her ex husband.

He in turn called in a butcher who killed the pig with a shotgun. The husband claimed the his ex-wife always had the intention to slaughter the animal and that he had knowledge of any adoption contract.

French police found 110kg of canned meat and paté at the property.

The woman was found guilty of breach of trust and complicity in the slaughter of an animal outside slaughterhouse conditions and fined €500 by the court in Vannes, as well as being given the three-month suspended jail term.