Animals are a new class of item, similar to Weapons, Armor, and Vehicles, that will be released soon.
“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 Crates. 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. Russia 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 since sent a letter to Zynga founder and CEO Mark Pincus asking him to consider no longer representing animals as weapons.

Name	Attack	Defense
Red Tailed Hawk	25	22
Rhinoceros	20	54
Cougar	51	32
Condor	37	50
Musk Ox	23	28
Inland Taipan	21	30
Killer Bee Swarm	29	20
Falconer	58	27
African Lion	58	36
Alligator	27	48
Anaconda	42	23
Armored War Elephant	96	69
Attack Cobra	24	20
Best Friend	23	40
Blitzen	16	21
Banded Krait	51	28
Chain Viper	46	33
Chinese Tiger	26	48
Dublin Stallion	26	51
Forest Scorpion	25	37
Highball	36	24
House Cat	50	37
Howler Monkey	20	37
Hyena on Chain	20	16
Irish Wolfhound	48	29
Jaguar	45	24
Kodiak	44	28
Komodo Dragon	34	22
Kraken	24	41
Laser Squirrel	43	12
Liger	45	12
Pair of Pet Tigers	28	12
Rabid Parrot	35	28
Red Boa	19	38
Reef Shark	55	24
Riding Elephant	18	30
Polar Bear	43	25
Royal White Elephant	34	48
Russian Bear	22	45
Siberian Tiger	36	14
Silverback Gorilla	35	57
Sled and Dogs	53	25
Snow Leopard	37	25
Spitting Cobra	46	28
Thai Giant Centipede	133	80
Timber Wolf	41	20
Turkey Vulture	62	50
Vicious Anaconda	20	42
Vicious Cobra	30	55
Vicious Hyena	28	29
Vicious Kodiak	41	24
Vicious Parrot	18	31
Vicious Scorpion	34	12
Vicious Tiger	52	34
Vicious Wolf	39	30
Wild Mustang	16	34
Xiamen Tiger	26	52
Zombie Cow	25	15