14 DAY TRIAL // The online community takes animal cruelty very seriously, especially if the supposed culprit is one of Google's Street View cars. Hence the media stir caused by the news that one such vehicle might need to be held accountable for the death of a donkey in Botswana.
Apparently, it all started when Twitter user @TheRealSheldonC (a.k.a. the real Dr. Sheldon Cooper) uploaded a picture of a donkey lying on the side of the road in the dirt and commented on it as follows: “I think google street view ran over a donkey in Botswana.”
Needless to say, Google denied the accusations and stated that, contrary to what @TheRealSheldonC wrote in his Twitter post, the animal was merely playing in the dirt and got back on its feet as soon as their Street View car passed by it.
To back up his claims, Google drew the public attention to the fact that several other pictures that its Street View car took showed the donkey standing on its four legs and walking around.
“Our Street View teams take the safety of people and donkeys very seriously. A review of our imagery confirms that we did not cause any harm to the donkey,” argued one of Google's spokespersons.
However, there were some who refused to take Google's statements on the matter at hand for granted, and decided to investigate the incident themselves, sources report.
After zooming forwards and backwards on Google Maps, they reached the conclusion that the pictures showing the animal walk away from the “scene of the crime” could not be true to facts, simply because their being accurate would require the donkey to walk backwards.
In other words: besides being accused of running over a defenseless donkey, Google is now also being “charged” with lying about it.
“Google Street View is in Botswana now - and apparently Google kill donkeys there too..keep an eye out for the donkey,” Twitter user @handelaar101 said.
Hopefully, more information on this topic will soon be made available to the general public.