Google released a statement today denying its mapping team ran over and killed a donkey in Botswana.
Social media sites were abuzz over the past 2 days with claims that a Google Street View vehicle ran over -- and possibly even killed -- a donkey in Botswana鈥檚 Kweneng region.
A Reddit poster on Tuesday pointed users to a Street View image. 鈥淕o past the donkey and then look back,鈥� instructed
The sequence upon clicking the indeed begins with the donkey in the distance, appearing to come towards the camera on the side of the road.
When the camera moves past the donkey, if the street map user rotates the angle to look back at the donkey, you can clearly see it lying on the ground on its side.
But Google this morning released a , denying this account.
鈥淚鈥檓 pleased to confirm the donkey is alive and well,鈥� said Google Maps Group Project Manager Kei Kawai in the cheekily-titled blog post, 鈥淣ever ass-ume鈥�.
Kawai says the opposite of what people are claiming occurred: the donkey was lying in the path as the Street View vehicle approached it. Kawai says the donkey may, in fact, have been 鈥渆njoying a dust bath鈥� -- and that it moved safely aside as their car moved past it.
The problem, he suggests, is that people were viewing the images in the wrong order.
Those with doubts may be assuaged with this image taken of the donkey, taken off the side of the car, which shows it's alive and well.
Kawai ends the blog by linking to some of the 鈥溾�� people can enjoy of Botswana and its wildlife captured by its 360-degree camera.
