Three men were arrested and charged with animal cruelty after a West Springfield resident allegedly told police they saw two pigs attempting to escape being shot and butchered in a backyard. 

The 911 caller said a group of eight or more men was shooting at two live pigs they had taken in a van to this backyard, according to MassLive. 

“The reporting party stated her neighbors just shot two pigs in their backyard, and they were now lighting them on fire. She stated she could still hear the pigs squealing,” according to the police report, the news outlet said. 

Gheorghe Condorachi, 18, Florin Condorachi, 20, and Simion Condorachi, whose age is unknown, were arrested March 26 and charged with animal cruelty, according to officials.

Gheorghe and Florin Condorachi’s defense attorneys said that their clients were only following a Moldavian Easter tradition, according to MassLive.

“It appears as though the commonwealth has never heard of a pig roast. If you want to eat a pig, you have to kill it. My client is not a pig torturer. If you want to go to the Maine lobster festival, they boil lobsters alive,” said Florin Condorachi’s lawyer Rich Herbert, according to the news site. 

Assistant Hampden District Attorney Meghan Tessitore argued that the chaotic nature of the scene and how the men were firing weapons in a neighborhood with homes and businesses was dangerous and asked that the men be held without bail, according to Mass Live. 

“There was blood all over the yard. These pigs were not killed immediately. There’s no telling where the slaughter even started,” she told Judge Robert Murphy, according to the news site.

However, Murphy released the defendants with the condition that they don’t have any domesticated animals on their property besides their previously owned parakeet, according to MassLive.