James originally caught Carnivine in the Great Marsh as a boy, as mentioned in a flashback in Cream of the Croagunk Crop!. It makes its debut in Two Degrees of Separation. In this episode, Team Rocket went to James's parents' vacation home in Sinnoh and James found Carnivine's Poké Ball among a collection of bottlecaps. He then decided to bring Carnivine with him.
Carnivine continues the series' running gag of James's Template:Type2 Pokémon showing affection for him by hurting him whenever they are released from their balls. This affection is probably due to the fact that James and Carnivine shared a close bond when James was a child.
Since James found it, Carnivine has taken Cacnea's place as his main battling Pokémon.
In Jessalina's Sinnoh Contest debut, Carnivine was used in both Appeal and Battle rounds. In the Appeal Round Carnivine used Bullet Seed on a lollypop that Jessie threw, and amazed the crowd by biting Jessie's head. In the Battle round, it is seen defeating a Rhydon for Jessie, showing that it is a strong battler, and thanks to it, Jessie reached the final stage. However, it lost against Zoey's Glameow.