{"id":88227,"date":"2025-08-16T22:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T22:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/88227\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T22:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T22:49:10","slug":"peta-urges-nintendo-to-remove-mario-kart-world-cows-nose-ring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/88227\/","title":{"rendered":"PETA Urges Nintendo to Remove ‘Mario Kart World’ Cow’s Nose Ring"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAnimal-rights advocacy group PETA<\/a> wants Nintendo<\/a> to remove the brass nose ring from Cow, the joyful anthropomorphic vehicle-driving character in the recently released top-selling game \u201cMario Kart World<\/a>.\u201d Yes, really.<\/p>\n

\n\tPETA this week launched a campaign to urge the Japanese game maker to redesign the Cow character \u201cwithout the nose ring \u2014 a painful reminder of the cruelty cows endure in the meat and dairy industries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe brass ring in Cow\u2019s nose glosses over real-world violence and cruelty to animals. That\u2019s why we\u2019re asking you to give this beloved bovine a small but meaningful upgrade: Remove the nose ring and let Cow race freely \u2014 without any painful reminders of the industries that treat animals like profit-making machines,\u201d Joel Bartlett, PETA\u2019s SVP of marketing engagement, wrote in a letter addressed to Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa, which the group posted on its website. He added, \u201cleave the rings to Sonic and let Cow breathe free!\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tReps for Nintendo of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMario Kart World\u201d was released June 5, 2025, as a launch game for the Nintendo Switch 2. As of June 30, the company had sold 5.63 million copies, according to Nintendo, making it the best-selling title for the new console. In the game<\/a>, 24 players compete against each other to see who can zoom through open-world racetracks the fastest.<\/p>\n

\n\tOnline commenters have pointed out that it\u2019s possible \u2014 in the context of the \u201cMario Kart World\u201d universe \u2014 that Cow chose to get the nose ring herself. \u201cHow do they know the cow didn\u2019t go to a body piercing place to get it? The damn thing knows how to drive so it\u2019s not completely\u2026 ordinary,\u201d an X user posted<\/a> Friday about the issue.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to PETA, in a press release about Cow\u2019s nose ring that said \u201cIt\u2019s-a mean!\u201d, the cattle industry uses nose rings as a tool of torment, not a fashion accessory: \u201cNose rings are used by the meat and dairy industries to exploit, control and even drag animals to their deaths. These brass rings are crudely stabbed through the sensitive septum of cows and bulls, which can cause lasting pain and discomfort.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s not the first time PETA has targeted Nintendo. For example, the advocacy group in 2020 criticized the game giant\u2019s \u201cAnimal Crossing: New Horizons\u201d<\/a> for \u201cencouraging abusive behavior toward fish and insects, where players can tear wildlife out of their homes and display them in cramped cases in a museum.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd in 2017, PETA said Nintendo had \u201csold its soul\u201d by partnering with McDonald\u2019s to include \u201cSuper Mario\u201d toys in Happy Meals. \u201cNintendo should stay in the business of selling creative video games, not cruel and unhealthy chicken nuggets,\u201d the group said at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Animal-rights advocacy group PETA wants Nintendo to remove the brass nose ring from Cow, the joyful anthropomorphic vehicle-driving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[24138,1299,14131,74],"class_list":["post-88227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-mario-kart-world","tag-nintendo","tag-peta","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}