A besieged Adelaide restaurant is refusing to pull down a dead cow from it’s ceiling, insisting that it’s not a publicity stunt but rather an attempt to raise awareness about the dairy industry.

After being voted as one of Australia’s top 50 restaurants, Etica: Ethical Pizzeria e Mozzarella Bar this year opened the doors to their abattoir-style building on Halifax Street where customers dine under a cow carcass named “Schivtzy”.

The eight-year-old cow has been hung from the ceiling by its hoofs.

While the store is never short of a customer, images of the “purposely confronting” display have since seen more than 3,500 people sign a petition to have Schvitzy taken down.

“This is unspeakable, atrocious, and shocking to see,” the petition states.







“It is a grand display of the cognitive dissonance in our society and creates a space for people to get more comfortable with the death and torture of other species.

“This is obscene and we wish for them to take her down ASAP."

One commenter noted: "This is why I'm vegan... Etica Pizza doesn't know the definition of ethical."

Etica Pizza this year opened the doors to their abattoir-style building on Halifax Street where customers dine under an eight-year-old cow named “Schivtzy”. Source: Instagram More

Intentionally visible through the restaurant’s glasshouse style design, the store's owner insists Schvitzy “has not been hung for decoration”.

“The installation has a mission: it aims to draw a connection to the true consequence of consuming dairy,” they explained in an Instagram post defending the display.

“The dairy cow is exposed to more abnormal physiological demands than any other class of farm animal.”







Etica said the Friesian x Hereford cow belonged to a Mount Barker family before they “slaughtered her at her home”.

“We slaughtered her, her meat was entirely consumed and her skin was taken to hang in our venue," the post continues.

“Her pose is not idyllic: it contradicts our programmed perceptions of a dairy cow.

"We are all at different stages of our own moral journey. It is easy to criticise other’s ethics that do not align with one’s own: Etica believes it is much more powerful to make an informed choice rather than adopt an ideology that one does not completely understand."