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by Jeff Bakalar November 14, 2011 12:34 PM PST Follow @jeffbakalar 
(Credit:PETA.org)People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently began calling the new Super Mario 3D Land for the Nintendo 3DS insensitive to the hunting and killing of real-life tanuki racoon dogs for fur. I guess PETA never had an issue with everyone's favorite plumber stomping on turtles and using their shells as weapons all these years.
From the "Mario Kills Tanooki" section of PETA's site: "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."
There's even an accompanying Flash game that encourages players to help a skinned and bloodied Tanooki reclaim his fur.
I'm all for animal rights and the ethical treatment of them and I don't think wearing real fur (tanuki or any other animal) is especially humane. But I do think it's safe to say no animals are or were harmed as a direct result of Super Mario 3D Land.
Instead, PETA is exploiting a game that's marketed to kids to propagate its agenda. Splattering animated blood on their site and flashing "Mario Kills Tanooki" is a bit harsh, even for a organization that has links to known arsonists and the ALF, a group declared by the Department of Homeland Security to be a "terrorist threat."
But don't worry kids, I actually recently had a chat with the big man himself, and he assured me that the Tanooki suit he wears in the game is made completely of faux fur.
(Via PETA via Kotaku)
Jeff Bakalar Before covering video games and gear for CNET Reviews, Jeff Bakalar worked in film and video production. He's a gamer, comic book nut, and a diehard New Jersey Devils fan. Off the ice you can catch him live every day as the co-host of CNET's infamous podcast, The 404, or every week on preGame. Follow @jeffbakalar Topics: Games and gear, Entertainment Tags: Mario, suit, tanuki, Tanooki, PETA, Nintendo, Super Mario 3D Land @import "http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/Ads/common/info_board/info_board.css";
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