Advocates To School Administrators: Don’t Be Asinine Animal Protectionists Call on School System to Cancel Donkey Basketball Game

Jackson, Mich.—Today, international animal protection organization In Defense of Animals (IDA) sent an urgent letter to the principal of Lumen Christi High School and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, calling on administrators to cancel a donkey basketball fundraiser scheduled for Sunday, November 4. The group cited animal cruelty and safety concerns.

Donkeys used in basketball games are shipped around the country in cramped conditions and are forced into as many as 300 games each year. In what is more a free-for-all than a game, students who have no experience with donkeys ride, drag, and jerk the animals around a basketball court. Because students are often more interested in showing off to their classmates than in the animals’ welfare, they yank their tails and ears, yell at them, and hit and kick the helpless donkeys in order to make them move.

In addition, handlers routinely withhold food from the donkeys prior to the events to prevent potential unsightly defecation on the court. One Cleveland animal organization’s investigation found two donkeys chained outside in freezing temperatures with no food or water. The group charged that the hair on the back of one of the donkeys was completely chafed from excessive riding. During the game, animals buckled under the weight of 250-pound riders as they were beaten with sticks to keep them moving.

In addition to potential injuries to animals, players are also at risk. A Wisconsin state senator fell off a donkey and broke her leg during one event, and a Waterloo, Ill. man was awarded $110,000 for injuries he sustained in a donkey basketball game.

Other educational institutions have set precedents by deciding not to hold these cruel and dangerous events. Just last week, C.W. Stanford Middle School in Orange County, N.C. canceled a donkey basketball tournament over concerns about animal cruelty. Many cities, counties, and school districts have completely banned the use of donkeys in sporting events. Zionsville Community Schools in Indiana has banned the use of animals in fundraisers altogether.

“There are other ways to raise money for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and there’s no need to do it on the backs of animals who are forced onto slippery floors, and subjected to the amplified din of a very lame event that cannot claim to be sporting,” says Elliot M. Katz, DVM, IDA President. “Donkey basketball is nothing more than a spectacle of cruelty, and no reputable charity should be associated with it.”

IDA’s letter to Principal Kalahar is available upon request.