PETA's anti-fur campaign takes on Mario

Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has a new enemy: Mario. Yes, that lovable overall wearing plumber of Nintendo fame. His crime? Wearing fur in Nintendo's latest Super Mario franchise title for the Nintendo 3DS, Super Mario 3D Land.

To point out Mario's sins, PETA launched a new online campaign called "Mario Kills Tanooki". The Tanooki is a Japanese raccoon dog, and during gameplay in 3D Land Mario dons the coat of a Tanooki, much like he did in Super Mario 3 for the original Nintendo system. The suit allows Mario to fly.

"Tanooki may be just a 'suit' in Mario games, but in real life, tanooki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur", PETA says on a site for the campaign. "By wearing Tanooki, Mario is sending the message that it's OK to wear fur".

PETA's efforts come complete with a game titled Super Tanooki Skin 2D, where the object is to help the Tanooki reclaim his skin from Mario's grip. In what has become typical of PETA's anti-fur campaigns, the site includes graphic imagery of the animals being abused by Japanese fur traders.

Nintendo has not responded directly to PETA's campaign, but stressed that nothing more than entertainment should be read into its games.