PETA mocked for 'vegan guide' to Animal Crossing which bans fishing

25 March 2020, 13:50

One Twitter user wrote: "Animal Crossing is a *game*. PETA please...you are making this SO hard for activists."

Over the past week, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has become the internet's new go-to, unproblematic, stay-at-home activity.

The wholesome Nintendo game is currently being played by millions of people across the world and has become a welcome source of respite amid the constant barrage of news about the coronavirus pandemic. Minding our own business, catching bugs, organising our homes and paying off our fictional mortgages? What could we possibly be doing wrong?

READ MORE: Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the perfect social distancing game and the memes prove it

Well... PETA has now released a "vegan guide" of what not to do on Animal Crossing and it's uhhh, let's just say it hasn't gone down well with many people.

According to them, Animal Crossing – which is a game – is somewhat unethical.

The vegan guide, which can be found on PETA's official website, takes readers through the dos and don'ts of the game, "helps answer some of the tough ethical questions", and refers back to real life situations while doing it.

Speaking about the fishing aspect of the game, PETA writes: "Fishing isn’t vegan! You shouldn’t fish in real life, so you shouldn’t do so in the game, either."

"Sure, unlike in real life, the fish in the game don’t feel pain, but fishing is harmful to animals and the planet. This is your island, and it’s your job to protect it. Tearing the wildlife right out of their ocean homes so that you can 'donate' them to Blathers for museum exhibits is not only cruel but also bad for the environment."

While the guide appears to be written in a tongue-in-cheek tone with genuine explanations as to why these particular actions could damage ecosystems and the environment in real life, the guide has been heavily criticised by gamers and a handful of vegans alike.

One Twitter user wrote: "Veganism is the reduction of animal exploitation from our lives and diets. animal crossing is a *game*. PETA please...you are making this SO hard for activists."

Another said: "@peta please focus on actual animal rights issues, not fucking Animal Crossing. This is why people think you're a joke."

At the end of the vegan guide, PETA stresses that they have nothing against Animal Crossing, explaining that they "hope the game will encourage people to feel closer to the animals we share our planet with and inspire them to work to #EndSpeciesism—the misguided belief that humans are superior to all other animal species and that it’s OK for us to exploit some species in horrible ways for our own trivial purposes".

Aaaaaaand there you have it!