A Vancouver Island man accused of killing and eating a potbellied pig he adopted from the BC SPCA has issued an apology on Facebook asking for the public to stop sending him death threats.

In a lengthy post that has since been deleted, Austin Manson Forget says he never intended to kill Molly, a pig seized during a cruelty investigation last year.

"I promise that I did not adopt Molly with the intention of killing her, it was only when she became aggressive with my partner's dog and had tried breaking through our glass door that I made the decision to have her put down," he wrote. "I understand and invite people to have their own opinions on the matter, but please understand that I am still human. I realize that what I did was wrong, and I cannot fix it, I can only continue to apologize. I don't want to justify what happened."

He said the pig died humanely and was not killed for fun or sport.

Forget also said he and his partner have been receiving death threats since being identified as the pig's owners online.

"I do feel remorse and regret for my actions, and I would like to ask that people stop sending death threats to me and my partner," he said in the post. "If I could pay a fine to make people feel better I would, and I feel like the fact that I was not charged is where a lot of the anger is coming from."

Molly was one of 57 pigs nursed back to health after being seized last year. She was adopted in January and the SPCA said it was informed earlier this month that she had been eaten.

BC SPCA spokeswoman Lorie Chortyk said staff were "extremely upset" because they were led to believe the adopter would keep the animal as a pet. There is no law in Canada prohibiting people from eating animals for food if they legally own the animal.

The organization said it would no longer allow the individual to adopt animals from any of its 36 branches in B.C.

In his post, Forget said SPCA investigators attended his property to inspect his home and other animals on the property, and were satisfied with what they saw.

He has denied CTV News' requests for an interview.