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Just recently, the principal of Bremen High School in Midlothian, Illinois, canceled the fundraising basketball game scheduled for the evening of Monday January 28, 2008. The leader of the school made this decision, after he learned that some of the game’s participants had been possibly mistreated or poorly trained.

Once the news about the principal’s stand spread, he was contacted by a nationally known organization and given an award for his courageous decision.

The group? PETA- or “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals”. The basketball players in question? Donkeys.

(This video from You Tube does not have any relation to the events mentioned in this article.  I only included it as a visual aid.) 

Yes, you read that right. As it turns out, there is such a thing as “Donkey Basketball” and more than a few groups around the country have used this activity to raise money for a variety of causes.

The author of this fundraising blog must confess to a terrible blind-spot in his industry-wide knowledge, for until this morning, I never knew such a thing even existed. But now, I am quite intrigued.

So, what does PETA have to say about Donkey basketball? I found this quote in the Chicago Tribune article which reported on this development. (Read the entire article here.)

According to Daniel Hauff, who is an animals-in-entertainment specialist in Chicago for PETA, “Donkeys used for such purposes sometimes travel in cramped trailers and may be abused in order to get them to cooperate. Although federal laws protect many animals from abuse, donkeys are not protected, so depending on the state, it can be legal to use them in such activities.”

Hauff went on to praise the school principal for his conviction. “He was concerned about his students and these animals. These animals are being forced to do something that is uncomfortable, probably confusing.”

PETA’s website actually went into greater detail about their views on this subject. “It’s hard to believe that something as absurd as “donkey basketball” still exists in this day and age, but sadly, it’s true. During these cruel “games”—which some schools hold as fundraisers—donkeys are dragged, kicked, and punched by participants who have no animal-handling experience. As if abusing animals and forcing them to participate in these games weren’t bad enough, there’s more: In order to keep them from having “accidents” on the court, donkeys are often deprived of food and water for hours before games. Donkeys are not protected by the federal Animal Welfare Act, and local humane agencies tend to be reluctant to get involved in cruelty cases involving donkeys, since employees typically don’t have any experience working with donkeys or any knowledge about them.”

Evidently, the national office of the Parent Teacher Association has also jumped on the anti-donkey basketball bandwagon. They have a statement on the PETA website that states, “Children trained to extend justice, kindness, and mercy to animals become more just, kind, and considerate in their [interactions] with each other.”

So, with all this hullabaloo out there against donkey basketball, I figured there had to be an organized group in favor of this “sport”. And there was- the companies that rent out their donkeys for the games. (Surprise!)

To be honest, I was able to find a woman- Bonnie Jo Campbell of Comstock, Michigan- who really loves donkeys. She raises her own and cares for them like family. She has a website, on which she wrote a 4,410 word essay about how much she loves donkeys. That’s seven pages typed- single spaced. She’s pretty serious about donkeys. You can read the text of this essay here (if you so desire) and you can learn about how impressed she was at the way the basketball-playing donkeys she’s known over the years have been treated. She sums up her essay with this quote (and I’m not kidding…) “If I were a donkey, I would prefer to live a life of leisure, hanging with my pals, play-fighting, rolling in sandpits and eating every thing I came across, but if I had to choose a career, I’d guess I’d seriously consider the basketball gig.”

So there you have it. What’s everybody getting so excited about?

From my reading and investigating, a typical financial arrangement between the school and the donkey owners is a 60-40 split with the donkey owners getting the sixty. If gate receipts top $3,000, the split goes to 50-50.

So, basically, it’s hard to imagine a game of donkey basketball really scoring that big for a school group. After all the time and effort you’d put into planning it, a 60-40 split isn’t that great. And, you have to assume that in this day and age, there is bound to be a group arise from your community who will vigorously oppose the activity, potentially giving your group a very bad public image.

Bottom-line: there are many other less abusive, less politically charged, and more profitable types of fundraisers you can pursue other than donkey basketball.

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