Screenshot from cecilrevenge.com (Cecil's Revenge)
A mobile game called “Cecil’s Revenge” – in which the late Cecil the lion and other Big Game animals like giraffes and elephants, take aim at poachers — has been rejected by Apple. The app was inspired by the game “Asteroids,” with animals in place of the space shuttles shooting at the asteroids, which are now human poachers.
The game was not included in the App Store because it violates Apple’s guidelines that forbid “enemies within the context of a game” from being from “a specific race, culture, a real government or corporation, or any real entity,” according to a release from David Kotkin and Glenn Cutler, the app’s developers.
Related: Apple pulls Civil War games showing the Confederate flag from its App Store
Apple told the developers that their game “targets poachers” and suggested they revise the app to “avoid targeting any groups or individuals.”
This is the first game from the developers and its central mission is to raise awareness of the killing of protected animals and to “inspire people and companies to develop technology to stop illegal poaching.”
“Cecil’s death empowered us to do a game where animals shoot at the poachers for a change,” Cutler said in the statement. “We have the animals shooting while flying through space for a reason. It has to do with drones and satellites. These modern technologies could track the animals and also track the poachers if they kill another Cecil.”
Proceeds from the app will go to technology — like drones and satellites — that could help put a stop to illegal poaching. The developers assert that the game does not target a specific “race or group,” but rather “anyone who is illegally killing animals.”
The app is available for download through Google Play.
Apple did not yet respond to a comment from FoxNews.com.
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