PETA Has a Cow Over Mischa Barton's Raw-Meat Photo Shoot

Animal rights group calls out actress and photographer Tyler Shields for recent gag-inducing pics

Is it any surprise that PETA isn't happy with Mischa Barton?

The animal rights group is slamming the O.C. actress for posing for pics that depict her chomping on slabs of raw meat.

"This raw meat stuff is getting old and may not only hurt and kill cows, it may hurt Mischa, because so much meat is infected with salmonella, E. coli, and campylobacter that licking it is like licking a toilet," PETA said in a statement to TooFab.

The statement continues, "In addition to this being completely unoriginal, it's completely callous—flesh from a tortured animal isn't a joke, isn't camp, and isn't cool. Meat is full of blood, is produced with violence, and causes great suffering. So if that's the look they were going for, too bad: They could have taken a leaf out of the playbooks of Pamela Anderson and Alyssa Milano, two PETA pinups who have shown off their natural beauty in outfits made of lettuce leaves for PETA's 'Let Vegetarianism Grow on You' campaign."

Tyler Shields, the photographer behind the photos, posted on his Twitter earlier today, "Everyone is so mad at me."

But he's certainly not apologizing.

"I am not for the suffering of animals," he tells us. "But I didn't kill that cow. I eat meat and I've always eaten meat and that's part of my life. But when they attack me as an artist and try and degrade Mischa, that's unacceptable."

Shields told us yesterday that he threw out the piece of meat used in the Barton pics, but the leftovers from the 65 pounds he bought for the shoot didn't go to waste. "I had a bunch of people over," he said. "We had a nice barbecue."

Barton's rep did not immediately comment for this story.