By Stephanie Feldstein For Change.Org

Earlier this week, in a Senate hearing about smartphone privacy with top representatives from Google and Apple, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asked, “Would you allow an app that offered specific directions on how to cook methamphetamine?”

Alan Davidson, head of public policy for Google, responded, “It would be fairly fact specific. Apps that are unlawful or are directly related to unlawful activity, we do take those down.”

What about an app that teaches someone the ins and outs of dogfighting, including steroid cycles, how to choose a dog that will fight, how to train a dog to strengthen its bite in the ring, and even offers virtual weapons in preparation for police raids? Is that fact-specific enough for you, Google? Because dogfighting is a felony across the U.S. and those details are enough to raise red flags among law enforcement officials and anti-dogfighting campaigners alike.

Paul M. Weber, the head of the Los Angeles Police Department’s officers union, calls KG Dogfighting (formerly known as Dog Wars), an app sold in Google’s Android Market, “sick” and “disgusting.” Weber told the LA Times, “The entire concept is repulsive and sickening, and it is absolutely the wrong message to send to our children … Doing anything short of voluntarily banning the game from its products shows that Google is willing to put profit over public safety.”

Jeff Jenkins, who works within communities as Lead Trainer of The Humane Society of the United States’ End Dogfighting Campaign to change perceptions about dogfighting among at-risk dog owners, also believes this app needs to be taken seriously by Google. “This is very disturbing to me, particularly as I work closely with young men who could quite easily access this game and be influenced.”

Defenders of the app argue that it’s just a game. But the reality is that it glorifies dogfighting and perpetuates stereotypes that affect very real dogs.

And is it really just a game? BSL News, the blog that originally broke the story about the app, received a disturbing email about KG Dogfighting from someone who found their blog when searching for pit bulls for sale and fighting equipment: “I started playing this last month and went to my first real dog fight last night. I graduated from that game and the real thing is WAY BETTER!!!! WHAT A RUSH. So sad that dogs die? They’re just dogs, ppl – things! Stupid things that were bred to fight and die!!!”

These comments reinforce the belief of law enforcement officials and animal advocates that KG dogfighting is more of a how-to than a game, and it needs to be taken down.

Google already has a policy that states “Android Market should not be used for unlawful purposes or for promotion of dangerous and illegal activities.” Davidson’s comments this week confirm that Google will remove apps that pose a danger, so why do budding dogfighters still have access to KG Dogfighting in the Android Market?

Tell Google to take a stand against dogfighting and ban this cruel app.