Animals

Animals is a newer class of item, similar to Weapons, Armor, and Vehicles. "The animals are coming! Mafia Wars is pleased to announce that animals will have a new importance in the game. Starting next week, animals will become a fully-fledged combat item class that you can use. In fights and robbing, you’ll bring one Weapon, Armor, Vehicle, AND Animal for each Mafia member you use in the fight! All existing animals in the game will be converted to this new “Animal” item type.

In preparation for this change, we’re kicking this off by having “Animals Gone Wild” week. During this week, animals will be dropping from jobs, fighting and robbing. If you want a head start in assembling your private zoo, you can go to the Marketplace to get your hands on our new Vicious Crate. These crates will contain exclusive LE animals that can’t be found anywhere else. We’ll also be featuring various LE animals in our hourly sales slots, so keep an eye out for those great deals!

We are also releasing two Limited Edition animals on the Marketplace: an African Lion and Pit Bull. These will only be available this week – so make sure you grab them before it’s too late!"

The animals you receive from jobs vary depending on the city and whether you are doing jobs or robbing (NY only). In New York, you can receive the Kodiak, Liger, Wild Mustang, and Timber Wolf. Robbing nets you the Pair of Pet Tigers, as well as the others (although they are much less common). Cuba can give you the Jaguar, Anaconda, and Howler Monkey. Moscow can give you the Russian Bear, Siberian Tiger, and Snow Leopard. Bangkok can give you the Chinese Tiger, Komodo Dragon, and Attack Cobra. This is not necessarily a complete list, this is simply based on personal experience (I've done ~5000 jobs since this started).

In the News
Zynga's introduction to Animals on April 19, 2010 jumpstarted a movement with the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to stop supporting animal cruelty in the game. According to the PETA's blog post on April 22, "Perpetuating the image of pit bulls as fighting machines is reckless and wrong... Pit bulls already face a public relations battle and are the most abused breed of dog. PETA's fieldworkers see pit bulls in horrific conditions every day. They are frequently kept chained or penned, they are taunted and trained to be aggressive, and they are beaten and starved—sometimes to death."

PETA has sent a letter to Zynga founder and CEO Mark Pincus asking him to consider no longer representing animals as weapons.