PETA Calls on School to Cancel Donkey Basketball

Group Says Educators, Community Leaders, Should Not Set Cruel Example

Huntsville, Texas (PRWEB) January 21, 2004 --Shocked that the very people who are responsible for the safety and education of young people are planning to participate in an event that is dangerous to its participants and cruel and demeaning to animals, PETA is calling on Huntsville High School to cancel a donkey basketball game scheduled for tomorrow night at the school. School, fire department, and police department officials, as well as area businesses, plan to participate in the game.

In a letter to Huntsville High School Principal Pat Taliaferro, PETA asks the school to hold the event without the four-legged animals, pointing out that during donkey basketball games, animals are dragged around a court and forced to participate against their will, causing stress and discomfort. The donkeys are frequently mishandled by participants who have no prior experience with them-they are often punched, kicked, screamed at, or whipped when found to be "uncooperative" by their riders. The games also pose a risk to human participants: An Illinois man was awarded $110,000 after being injured in a donkey basketball game, and last April, during another donkey game, a Wisconsin state senator fell off a donkey and broke her leg.

"The school is setting a bad example by holding an event that puts animals and students in danger," says PETA Senior Animals in Entertainment Specialist Amy Rhodes. "By instituting a policy prohibiting events using animals, as so many other schools have already done, Huntsville High School, the Huntsville Independent School District, and the entire community can send the powerful and important message that cruelty to animals is not acceptable."

Donkey ball games have already been put out to pasture in other areas of the country. The Monmouth County Education Association in New Jersey instituted a ban on donkey basketball games, and Indiana school district Zionsville Community Schools has set a policy against using animals for fundraisers. This past summer, the Sullivan County Sheriffs Department and the Monticello Police Department canceled a donkey basketball game in New York after being alerted to the cruelty involved.

PETAs letter to Huntsville High School Principal Pat Taliaferro is available upon request.
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