An artist has been accused of killing 9,000 butterflies in the name of art. Controversial British artist Damien Hurst is being blamed for killing 9,000 butterflies for his recent exhibition, "In and Out of Love", at Tate Modern gallery in London.

The exhibition featured live tropical butterflies in two humidity-controlled rooms over a course of five months this year. Nearly half a million people visited the exhibition to watch the butterflies flying about freely.

However, due to the large number of people visiting, it was reported that 400 butterflies had to be replenished every week due to being stepped on, squashed, or killed by visitors brushing the insects off.

The sheer number of butterflies which were killed as part of the exhibition brought outcry from animal rights activists. A spokesperson for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told Telegraph: "Just because it is butterflies, that does not mean they do not deserve to be treated with kindness."

A spokesperson for PETA also told Telegraph: "Damien Hirst's quest to be edgy is as boring as it is callous. It does not matter whether Hirst killed the animals himself or sat by while thousands of them were massacred for his own unjustifiable amusement. Butterflies are beautiful parts of nature and should be enjoyed in the wild instead of destroyed for something predictable and unimaginative."

Twitter users have called the exhibition a "butterfly massacre" and referred to Hirst as a "butterfy-murdering monster".

However, a spokesman for the Tate gallery has defended its use of the butterflies, telling the British paper: "The butterflies used in this work were all sourced from reputable UK butterfly houses and were selected from varieties known to thrive in the conditions created. The butterflies lived out the final stage of their natural life cycle inside this room."