For a day or two over the weekend it looked like Dog Wars, the dog-fighting Android smartphone app we wrote about last week, had been removed from the Android app store for good. But the app is back, with a new name, but no less violence.

Under the new moniker of KG Dogfighting, you can still pull out a gun when the police come to raid your operation, and you can still inject your dog with steroids if he needs a little boost to get back in the ring and tear his opponent apart.

Kage Games, the creators of the application, said in an email to the Los Angeles Times that the game’s purpose is (sit down for this one, Dogsters) to educate the public on the evils of animal cruelty.

Paul M. Weber, the head of the LA Police Department’s officers’ union, isn’t buying this latest line. He says Google needs to ban the app, and that just because it has a new name “does not make it any less sick, disgusting, or appalling.”

“The entire concept is repulsive and sickening, and it is absolutely the wrong message to send to our children. We once again call on Google to follow the lead of Apple and ban this game from its website and all products they sell,” he said. “Doing anything short of voluntarily banning the game from its products shows that Google is willing to put profit over public safety.”

The game’s temporary removal from the Android store seems to have been based only on a trademark infringement complaint, not on the huge public outcry against the app, according the the Times.

The creators of the app maintain that there’s a big difference between real life and a game, and despite concern that the app glorifies dog fighting and serves almost as a how-to school, they’re not budging.

“We’ve heard thoughts from many dog and animal lovers about our app and first we, as dog lovers and dog owners ourselves, would like to thank you for your thoughts and for the work many of you do on behalf of our canine friends,” reads the app’s page in the Android Market. “We do not condone violence towards animals or humans, and we are confident in humankind’s ability to distinguish between a rudimentary game and the consequences of real life.”

You can read more Kage Games arguments for the existence of their game – including the fact that there are loads of other very violent apps out there that no one in real life would imitate – on their Android app page.

If you’re still up for the fight, here are some ways you can take action. (The information is courtesy of bslnews.org, a website against Breed Specific Legislation.)