Well, it’s happened again. Controversial PETA has gone above and beyond the call of an organization to raise awareness for their perceived transgressions against animal rights in a video game, and its just as ridiculous as it has been in the past. Previously, PETA took to the internet to raise awareness of “animal cruelty” in video games, going as far as to attack innocent games such as Cooking Mama and Super Mario. How you may ask? If you haven’t seen it for yourself yet, PETA created real, playable flash versions of these old school titles and they are seriously disturbing to witness. Seriously? Mama Kills Animals? Mario Kills Tanooki? For Pete’s Sake, guys…

While these past petitions to remove “animal cruelty” from video games are shocking enough, it seems the organization hasn’t stopped there. Not only have they opened up a Minecraft server, showing off a grim slaughterhouse effigy to try and scare players away from the meat industry (seriously people, little kids play this game), they’ve now taken up arms against Games Workshop and their Warhammer titles in a bid to make the developers stop dressing their characters in animal furs. Their reasoning for this action is because they believe the characters couldn’t possibly understand the pain and horror animals go through during the fur trading process.

The grimdark, battle-hardened warriors are known for their martial prowess – but wearing the skins of dead animals doesn’t take any skill. Indeed, nothing on the bloody battlefields of Warhammer’s conflict-ravaged universe could match the terrible reality that foxes, minks, rabbits, and other living beings experience at the hands of the fur trade. Those killed for their fur typically first endure a bleak life inside a tiny, filthy wire cage before being electrocuted, drowned, or even skinned alive. Or they may be in the wild, minding their own business, when they get caught in a horrific bone-crushing steel-jaw trap – often languishing for days before eventually dying from starvation, dehydration, or blood loss.

… really? We’re talking about Warhammer, where trillions of innocent lives are slaughtered in-canon while alien and monster hordes overtake the world in vicious, militant combat, right?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely the first to stand up against senseless animal cruelty, but this is getting silly now. Clearly, PETA organizers haven’t actually read up on the horrors and overt abundance of violence in this outrageous game series, because animals furs are clearly the least of these soldiers’ worries. Sure, maybe animal furs can be left off the uniforms and armor of the Sisters of Silence, Leman Russ and Horus Lupercal and it wouldn’t have much of an impact on the story, but the Chaos Warriors? A Warhammer Fantasy race? They kind of need those furs, its literally part of their clothing!

PETA has written to Games Workshop CEO Kevin Rountree asking that the leading British miniature war-gaming brand ban “fur” garments from all Warhammer characters. While we appreciate that they are fictional, draping them in what looks like a replica of a dead animal sends the message that wearing fur is acceptable – when, in fact, it has no more place in 2017 than it would in the year 40,000.

Yeah, it’s not surprising that PETA has been regularly attacking games for animal rights for quite a few years now, but honestly, they might have picked some really rocky ground to take a stance on this time. Grimdark is an understatement when talking about the game’s themes. Animal furs? Not exactly the first thing Games Workshop is going to look at when human evisceration is a common way to die. At least, it won’t be quite as shocking this time if PETA tries to make a cutesy little flash game involving cartoon blood and chopping up critter bits, right?

In the meantime, for those of you who are not phased by PETA’s newest crusade, here’s a bit of bad news to darken your day: Warhammer 40K newest video game has been delayed until late 2017, due to the fact that they simply wanted to make it the best game possible for their fans. I wonder if the delay has anything to do with developers taking the time to remove all those offensive animal furs from the game… guess only time will tell now!

What do you think of the newest announcement from PETA’s petitions? Do you agree with their actions to try and force game developers to remove animal furs from this grimdark storytelling? Do you believe PETA might actually start a petition to save aliens and monsters from the cruelty of human slaughter, next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!