A Pizza Hut restaurant has sparked fury by offering free animals from a nearby pet shop as part of a bizarre and controversial meal deal promotion.

The fast food restaurant in Melbourne, Australia, erected a large sign, which read: "Buy any 10 large pizzas and get one small animal from Pets Story."

The poster prompted outrage on Twitter and Facebook, where angry animal-lovers were quick to brand the promotion "disgraceful" and "irresponsible".

Eventually, the Mount Waverley eatery scrapped the offer and covered the the sign with white paper after pressure from Oscar's Law, an animal rights organisation.

The fast food chain has since released a statement conceding that the “thoughtless” and “inappropriate” promotion was not condoned by Pizza Hut Australia.

It was also quick to highlight that no animals had been given away.