Apple rejects ‘Ceil the Lion’ revenge app
Apple has recently rejected ‘Cecil’s revenge’, an app that is meant to be a homage to Cecil the lion and said to be modelled after the popular game Asteroids. It happens to be the first game created by developers David Kotkin and Glenn Cutler and an effort to pay homage to Cecil the lion that was killed in Zimbabwe last July this year.
In an incident that sparked international outrage, Walter Palmer, an American dentist and recreational game hunter from Minnesota, had reportedly paid 50,000 USD in June 2015 to a professional hunter to enable him to kill a lion in one of Zimbabwe’s national parks. Cecil, the unfortunate victim was lured out of his sanctuary and was initially wounded by an arrow. He was then tracked and killed with a rifle 40 hours later. In the aftermath, Theo Bronkhorst the hunter who helped Palmer was arrested and released on bail with his case adjourned till 28th of September. Zimbabwean officials had said that they had initiated legal proceedings to extradite Palmer from the United States. While the status of the proceedings is unclear, Palmer had announced to the media that he would be returning to his dental practice on September 9.
Apple has explained that it is its corporate policy to ban apps that target or portray in bad light, any person or group of people belonging to a specific race, culture, a real government or corporation. The developers of the app are understandably disappointed and angry by Apple’s reaction as they had meant their creation to be a voice against illegal poachers around the world and had expected the computer giant to endorse and support their cause. They said their intention was to inspire both individuals as well as corporates to bring about an end to illegal poaching happening throughout the world by developing anti-poaching technologies.
According to the statement released by Cutler, Cecil’s death prompted them to design a game in which interestingly, the animals shoot the poachers instead of the contrary. The game is said to be modeled after the popular game Asteroids and has the animals flying through space and doing the shooting.
Cutler also informed that proceeds obtained from their app would go toward technologies including drones that could play a strong and decisive role in bringing down illegal poaching. Interestingly the app is available for download from Google’s playstore.
Vijay ram