With a new school year just
underway, students, teachers and administrators are all ready for a fresh
start. And as sure as there will be lost homework, missed school buses and overcooked
cafeteria food, there will also be school fundraisers, including, in some
districts, a cruel spectacle called "donkey
basketball" that should have been benched long ago.
Yes, you read that correctly: Students and faculty shoot
hoops from the backs of donkeys supplied by a couple of companies that rent out
these personable animals like carnival equipment. Donkeys used in these
fundraisers are frequently handled roughly by unruly riders who are more caught
up in putting on a show for spectators than treating these gentle animals with
the care that they deserve. During games, donkeys are often punched, kicked,
screamed at or whipped for being "uncooperative."
The donkeys used for basketball games are loaded and unloaded
into tractor-trailers and hauled from one event to the next. They find
themselves in the middle of gymnasiums surrounded by screaming kids, bullhorns
and whistles. According to The Donkey Sanctuary in the U.K., an average-size
donkey is not able to bear much more than 100 pounds, yet in most games,
donkeys are forced to carry riders weighing 150 pounds or more.
Donkeys
are specifically excluded from protection under the Animal Welfare Act and are
afforded no federal protection whatsoever. Operators of traveling shows come
and go quickly, and even if local humane authorities want to take action, the
donkeys and their owner will be long gone.
Supporting
donkey basketball sends kids the message that forcing animals to perform ridiculous
stunts is acceptable if it's for "a good cause." Child psychologists
as well as top law-enforcement officials consider cruelty
to animals a red flag, and g iven that most
schools rightfully strive to live up to a zero-tolerance policy for bullying,
they should condemn all forms of gratuitous cruelty, including cruelty
to animals.
With so many innovative and humane ways to raise funds, schools are failing themselves and their students by promoting animal exploitation for cheap laughs.
Gemma Vaughan, M.S.W., is a cruelty caseworker
with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510; www.PETA.org.