Justin Bieber is facing criticism from PETA after sharing an Instagram picture of himself posing with an abused Bengal tiger at his dad's engagement party in Toronto on Saturday.

The animal rights organization sent a letter to the "What Do You Mean?" hitmaker to call attention to the dangers of coming close to animals that have been kept in captivity for a better part of their lifespan.

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"Justin Bieber is lucky not to have had his throat torn out by this stressed captive tiger," said PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange

She added that the exotic animal was borrowed from the Bowmanville Zoo, whose owner, Michael Hackenberg, was charged with five counts of animal cruelty last month after video footage emerged of him repeatedly whipping a young tiger, forcing him to step down from his position as director of the zoo.

"Tigers used for photo ops are torn away from their mothers shortly after birth, and the Bowmanville Zoo, in particular, was caught whipping one tiger more than 17 times, even after the cat was lying on his back in a position of submission and fear," Lange continued.

"This is why PETA urges everyone to stay far away from cruel and dangerous big-cat photo ops and also why we're asking Justin to vow that this will be his last time promoting these types of abusive outfits," she added.

PETA's letter to the Bieber also stressed that posing with exotic creatures is the "worst way" to recognize his interest in animals before pointing out how these wild animals are "doped up to be docile and deprived of everything that's natural and important to them" for the sake of entertainment.

A photo posted by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) on Apr 30, 2016 at 4:05pm PDT

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