Following the recent killing of Zimbabwean National Park Lion Cecil, a UK company called Goldgenie known for customizing smartphones has offered to raise cash for Cecil and its home in Zimbabwe. Cecil was a 13-year-old male Southwest African Lion who primarily lived in the Hwange National Park in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe. He was a tourist attraction at the park and was being studied and tracked by Oxford University as part of a larger study.
Goldgenie is now offering for sale a special edition HTC one M9 smartphone coated in 24-karat gold with an engraved portrait of Cecil the Lion on the back, along with the inscription “For Cecil and his Kingdom.” Pricing of this beast is around $2,470 (£1,580.83, about AU$3,380). Out of every sale, 10 percent will be donated to the Friends of Hwange Trust, an organization dedicated to preserving the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, the place Cecil called home.
According to Wikipedia, Goldgenie is a company that specialises in providing customization of household items. The service is primarily used to customize mobile phones, games consoles, and household items with gold, copper, nickel, chrome and platinum plating, solid gold, Swarovski crystals and diamonds. Customers order products via the Internet, or send their own items to be customised. They are dedicated to creating outrageous luxury items like diamond-bedazzled iPhones and $164,000 Apple watches.
“This Limited Edition 24k Gold Cecil the Lion HTC one M9 is a state-of-the-art smartphone that will serve as a reminder of the beauty of nature’s wildlife and the importance of conserving it,” Goldgenie writes in the product description. Only 99 of the fancy smartphones will be made.
