Animal rights campaign group PETA is calling on Nintendo to remove Mario Kart World’s Cow’s nose ring.
In a statement, PETA said no real-world cow would sport Cow’s “goofy grin” if they were forced to wear a ring, “a tool of cruelty that causes lasting pain and discomfort”, and wrote to Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa earlier this week to explain that “nose rings are forcibly pierced through one of the most sensitive parts of a cow’s body”, often used to drag or control cows ans bulls “to their deaths”.
“We know Mario Kart World is just a game – and that’s exactly why Cow’s nose ring needs to go,” the organisation said. “Mario Kart is supposed to be a fun escape, not a reminder of the painful tools used on cows in the meat and dairy industries. No one wants to think about animal suffering while zipping around a race track.”
The dairy industry also reportedly clips “spiked nose rings on baby cows so that the comforting act of nursing from their mother causes her pain and the baby is rejected and kicked away. To control bulls, a chain might be fastened from the nose ring to the bull’s horn for even more pain-driven control”.
“It’s not a style choice,” the organisation added, “It’s a cruel tool used to control and hurt cows in the meat and dairy industries, which causes lasting pain and discomfort.”
PETA has previously taken action against other games, including Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which it said encouraged “abusive behaviour toward fish and insects […] tearing wildlife out of their homes and display them in cramped cases in a museum”. It’s also launched campaigns against Palworld and Hunting Simulator 2.
Nintendo sold 5.82m Switch 2 consoles worldwide in its first month of release and 5.63m copies of Mario Kart World, meaning the launch title had an attachment rate of around 97 percent.