A little girl cried hysterically when her father butchered a fish from the market.

The three-year-old youngster Jhanea Bicera was happily playing in the kitchen when she found the creatures swimming in a basin in Nueva Vizcaya province, the Philippines.

But when her father came out to clean and cook the tilapia, Jhanea wouldn't have him kill her newfound friends.

Footage shows the youngster bawling and stopping her father from slicing up the creatures. She fought for them and grabbed the one he successfully gutted and returned it to the water hoping for it to return to life.

Jhanea's mother Cathrina Obana said: ‘My daughter didn't want us to hurt the fish. I forgot to explain to her that they were food. She was thinking that they were pets.'

The young girl shielded the other fish as she held the dead tilapia. She was heard pleading, ‘no daddy,' while her parents kept telling her that they would cook ‘one only.'

After some discussions, the little girl compromised with her parents. She had her own tilapia on a separate basin while the rest were cooked for lunch.