PETA Protests Mario Wearing Fur In New Super Mario Game

Our friends at PETA, who find an excuse to hate and downgrade anything that isn't their own, no matter how ridiculous, is now attacking Mario for wearing his Tanooki suit in the new Super Mario 3D Land for Nintendo 3DS.

If you've played Super Mario Bros 3 on the NES (one of the greatest games of all time), you've seen this suit before. The tanooki is a Japanese animal, kind of like a raccoon, that lets you float by wiggling your tail. Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either as a tanooki can't fly. It's just a suit that grants you that power - that's it.

PETA has built a flash-based game you can play titled "Mario Kills Tanooki" with this message:

When on a mission to rescue the princess, Mario has been known to use any means necessary to defeat his enemy—even wearing the skin of a raccoon dog to give him special powers.

Tanooki may be just a "suit" in Mario games, but in real life, tanuki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur. By wearing Tanooki, Mario is sending the message that it's OK to wear fur. Play Super Tanooki Skin 2D and help Tanooki reclaim his fur!

So, there's that. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about animal rights and respecting them, but it's a freakin' video game. He's not killing a Tanooki, it's just a power-up. But, leave it to our friends at PETA for making small things much larger in the views of their organization, like when they protested Ugly Bug Fly Shop.

Do you think PETA is right to complain about this Mario instance, or should they just leave it alone and eat celery? Tell us in the comments.