Award-winning author Jeanette Winterson has sparked a passionate debate on Twitter after uploading pictures of a rabbit she killed in her garden before eating it.
The Oranges are not the Only Fruit writer posted the images on Sunday after catching the rabbit eating her parsley.
Rabbit ate my parsley. I am eating the rabbit.
The 54-year-old tweeted pictures of the skinned rabbit.
Here is the rabbit washed and jointed for the pot
And showed it being cooked.
On the AGA in cider with rosemary and thyme
She even posted pictures of her cat eating the rabbit’s innards.
For all the Tweeters who said my cat would prefer Whiskers (where do u think pet food comes from BTW?)
Oops. You need THIS photo.
The images received a mixed reaction on Twitter, with some expressing their anger at what they deemed animal cruelty, especially after the author said the rabbit's skin would make a "great glove puppet".
@prixpics In a trap next to the parsley bed. The skin which includes the head makes a great glove puppet
@Wintersonworld hope the rabbit chokes you wicked old cow
@Wintersonworld you are vile. Yes rabbit can be eaten but to kill your own pet and then....
@Wintersonworld ......glamorise it is disgusting. I hope the @RSPCA_official get hold of u
@Wintersonworld If there is let me know, because I'd quite like to do the same to you. You're equally bigoted & conceited.
@Wintersonworld You're a heartless cunt! Plant something for the rabbit, fence the rest off & leave things be. There's no need for this
@Wintersonworld this is out of order and I think that you should remove this picture, if you have trapped this poor animal you don't need
@Wintersonworld to gloat about it
@Wintersonworld u are disgusting..its the fact u making a joke of this. I notice u call urself a 'nature lover' maybe u should change that!
@Wintersonworld, if you think the stronger species survives, can't wait to see you get caught by a lion
@Wintersonworld that's absolutely disgusting, it's not up to you to kill the rabbit, what gives you the right, it's sickening
@Wintersonworld everything has a right to live..is it ok to start killing people because there are too many of us...NO! vile bitch!
@Wintersonworld You are disgusting! That poor innocent animal! Anything for publicity!
@Wintersonworld #before i unfollow u,u make me sick. I will never again. read a word u write. Rest in peace little rabbit.
It's one (bad) thing eating meat. But photographing killing & skinning an animal & bragging about it, is quite another. @Wintersonworld
@Wintersonworld Thing is that most decent people don't feel a need to post such a graphic image & joke about it. That's the difference.
There was considerable support for the 54-year-old as well though.
Some people very unhappy about @Wintersonworld killing a rabbit. We'd all have more respect for food if we had to kill it once in a while.
@Wintersonworld makes perfect sense to me. And I'm a vegetarian!
So Jeanette Winterson @Wintersonworld killed & cooked a rabbit. This is news? How do you think supermarkets get their meat? By killing it.
Think that @Wintersonworld is absolutely spot on with rabbit tweets. Good food, humanely sourced in an ecologically sensitive way...
What a world when people complain @Wintersonworld for humanely killing/eat a rabbit but will guzzle a @McDonalds down...
@Wintersonworld. Totally with you on the rabbit thing. Carry on!
I have total respect for what you did,@Wintersonworld and Im a vegetarian. Rabbits are a pest, meat farms are cruel, This is a good solution
Women being stoned to death in Lahore, girls being raped and hung in Uttar Pradesh and ppl upset about @Wintersonworld skinning a rabbit!
@Wintersonworld A storm in a D cup! Looks delicious. Rabbits have moved into my garden but fond of them.
@Wintersonworld I'm vegetarian - but agree wholeheartedly.
Winterson remains unrepentant and said she was interested in the debate her posts had caused.
RABBITS! Fascinated by the vast conversation. Decided to follow thru with photos. I eat wild game&fish. Learned to skin, pluck, gut, bone
On Tuesday she posted pictures of her garden, allegedly eaten by the rabbit.
Picture of eaten alive rose (8more!) All old fashioned varieties planted for bees.
Picture of my sprout plants grown from seed after rabbit attack!
And this morning, the author stood by her view that rabbits must be culled at their current levels.
Rabbits! At pest level they must be culled. This year is pest level in the countryside. Rabbits are sold @ market. Why not eat what u catch?