‘Liberate Cow’: Animal rights group Peta urges Nintendo to remove Cow’s nose ring in Mario Kart World
“Leave the rings to Sonic”, the organisation says
Animal rights organisation has urged Nintendo to redesign the popular Cow character in Mario Kart World.
Ever since it first became known that the latest Mario Kart entry would feature a cow from Moo Moo Meadows as a playable racers, she’s become one of the most popular characters in the game.
Now Peta, which is no stranger to campaigning against Nintendo games, has urged the company to redesign Cow and remove her nose ring.
The group argues that the nose ring is a sign of cruelty, saying the meat and dairy industries use them to control and exploit animals.
A pledge the organisation is asking users to sign reads: “Workers stab the rings through cows’ and bulls’ sensitive septum and sometimes chain the ring to the bulls’ horns for even more pain-driven control. The dairy industry even clips spiked nose rings on baby cows so that nursing hurts their moms and they’re rejected and kicked away. The brass ring in Cow’s nose is a painful reminder of the industries that treat real-life cows like machines.
The pledge continue: “That’s why I’m asking you to remove the nose ring: It’s a small change that can make a huge difference in how we see animals. Cow is an adorable character and deserves to race without a tool of cruelty on their face. Will you please show compassion to animals and let Cow breathe free?”
When one X user suggested Peta should pick its battles, the group’s official account replied that “video games can shape how people see animals, so showing them respect matters both online and in real life”.
Liberate Cow pic.twitter.com/wLuf3fJZ1P
— PETA (@peta) August 14, 2025
Peta has been using Nintendo in its campaigns for nearly two decades, with campaigns ranging from light-hearted to extremely graphic.
In 2007 it campaigned against Kentucky Fried Chicken by releasing Super Chick Sisters, a Flash game parody of New Super Mario Bros where players control a pair of small chicks who have to rescue Peta campaigner Pamela Anderson from an evil Colonel Sanders. This was followed by a sequel in which Anderson was kidnapped by Ronald McDonald.
Turning its attention to Nintendo itself, Peta responded to the return of the Tanooki suit in Super Mario 3D Land with a new Peta game called Mario Kills Tanooki, which featured a graphic image of Mario wearing a suit covered in blood and holding a raccoon’s decapitated head.
It also released Pokémon Black and Blue, an attempt to criticise Pokémon for being what it equated to a cockfighting simulator, which had Pikachu being battered senseless by a blood-covered baseball bat.
