Stuffed cow hanging from restaurant ceiling causes online backlash

Etica restaurant's stuffed cow installation has caused controversy. Photo / Change.org

An abattoir-style restaurant in Australia is facing an online backlash over the installation of a stuffed cow hanging from its ceiling.

Etica, a pizza place in Adelaide, South Australia, have the taxidermied eight-year-old Friesian x Hereford, suspended from the ceiling by her hind legs, according to the Daily Telegraph UK.

The owners of the restaurant, Federico and Melissa Pisanelli, say they want to challenge diners' "programmed perceptions" of a dairy cow and "educate consumers on the origins of our food".

A cow strung up by its hind legs over dining tables at the Etica restaurant in Adelaide. Photo / Etica Facebook

"It is designed to make consumers stop and think about the realities of the dairy industry," they say.

However, critics have labelled the installation "unspeakable, atrocious and shocking to see" and called for the cow to be taken down.

A petition signed by more than 4000 people says the pizza place "displays a real dead mother cow's body hanging over tables by her feet where their customers eat".

It adds: "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."

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Posted by Etica on Sunday, 24 September 2017

Etica say its restaurant is "designed to reflect a slaughterhouse" and "is dominated by themes of confrontation and transparency".

"We do not aim to influence on whether one should consume dairy, but rather, we urge our consumers to understand the origin of their food in order to make a conscious decision on whether to eat it," they say.

"The pose of Schvitzy, as she was affectionately known, is purposely confronting. She has not been hung for decoration. The installation has a mission: it aims to draw a connection to the true consequence of consuming dairy.

"Schvitzy was eight-years-old. She was the by-product of a dairy farm in South Australia ... We slaughtered her at her home. Her meat was entirely consumed and her skin was taken to hang in our venue.

"It is easy to criticise others' 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."