PETA is asking Nintendo to remove the nose ring from the Cow character in Mario Kart World. The organization argues that the current design promotes animal cruelty and clearly clashes with the Mario Kart World character’s otherwise whimsical charm.
A U.S. animal rights nonprofit, PETA has targeted Nintendo over half a dozen times since the late aughts. It did so on several occasions during the Switch generation, most recently by protesting against Blathers’s museum in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Continuing this trend, the organization has now taken aim at the critically acclaimed Mario Kart World, Nintendo’s flagship Switch 2 exclusive. In an open letter addressed to Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa, PETA urged the Japanese gaming giant to change the design of the game’s Cow character by removing its nose ring, calling it a symbol of animal suffering. “This marvelous Moo Moo’s goofy grin has charmed gamers around the world, but her real-life counterparts who are tormented and violently yanked around by their noses have nothing to smile about,” PETA SVP Joel Bartlett said in a prepared statement.
The group contends that including such a detail in a family-friendly game undermines empathy for bovines and glamorizes animal cruelty, especially since Cow immediately established itself as a fan-favorite Mario Kart World character. Apart from penning an open letter to Furukawa, PETA also started rallying supporters via Peta2, a branch of its youth division, asking them to help call on Nintendo to redesign the Cow character.
This marvelous Moo Moo’s goofy grin has charmed gamers around the world, but her real-life counterparts who are tormented and violently yanked around by their noses have nothing to smile about.
The open letter itself includes graphic descriptions of how nose rings are used in industrial farming, including practices of dragging animals to their death and severing maternal bonds between cows and calves by intentionally making nursing painful. Usually made of brass, these rings are stabbed through a cow or bull’s septum and can cause chronic pain and discomfort, as per the same source. PETA thus argues that its proposed minor redesign of Mario Kart World’s Cow would allow Nintendo to make a positive impact with minimal effort, adding that removing the nose ring would also align with the character’s otherwise family-friendly design.
All the Times PETA Campaigned Against Nintendo Games
- November 2008: published parody game Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals, calling for a vegetarian-only version of Cooking Mama
- November 2011: published parody game Mario Kills Tanooki, denouncing Mario wearing fur in Super Mario 3D Land
- October 2012: published parody game Pokemon: Black and Blue, portraying Pokemon battles as abuse following the release of Pokemon Black and White 2
- October 2013: published follow-up parody game Pokemon: Red, White, and Blue aimed at McDonald’s Pokemon Happy Meal toys
- July 2016: protested the launch of Pokemon GO by declaring PETA’s LA office a Pokemon “safe zone” and comparing catching Pokemon to real-world captivity
- March 2017: sent an open letter to Nintendo asking for the 1-2-Switch milking mini-game to depict the “realities” of dairy farming because it is “too pleasant”
- June 2019: ran the “I’m not your Wooloo sweater” campaign promoting anti-shearing messaging ahead of Pokemon Sword and Shield’s launch
- March 2020: published a “vegan guide” for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, telling players not to fish, catch bugs, or build the museum
- August 2025: asked Nintendo to remove the brass nose ring from Mario Kart World’s Cow character, arguing it promotes animal cruelty
Nintendo has yet to respond to PETA’s open letter in any capacity. Based on historical practices, the company seems unlikely to do so. Reading between the lines, PETA likely sent the open letter not with the expectation of succeeding in pressuring Nintendo to redesign one of its characters, but because Mario Kart World is a high-profile title with broad global recognition, making it an effective vehicle for raising awareness about industrial farming practices.
Mario Kart World
- Released
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June 5, 2025
- ESRB
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Everyone // Mild Fantasy Violence, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
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Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
- Multiplayer
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Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer
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