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Fleetwood High School Protects Students and Animals by Switching to Dodgeball Tournament
For Immediate Release:June 8, 2010
Contact:Marta Holmberg 757-622-7382
Blandon, Pa. -- For persuading school officials to cancel a scheduled donkey basketball fundraiser and switch to a dodgeball tournament instead, Fleetwood High School senior and member of peta2's Street Team Letecia Garcia will receive a Compassionate Teen Award from peta2, PETA's youth division.
"Besides potentially putting participants' safety at risk, when animals are kicked and prodded into doing things that they find confusing and upsetting--as happens in donkey basketball--the students get a lesson in insensitivity," says peta2 Director Dan Shannon. "Thanks to Letecia Garcia's persistence, her school joins the many others across the country that have taken a stand against animal abuse disguised as entertainment."
Garcia has been active in helping animals for years. She has raised awareness of animal rights among her friends and classmates, opposed product testing on animals, and tabled for peta2 on the Vans Warped Tour. Now, Garcia is busy working with school officials to adopt a districtwide policy against the use or exploitation of animals on any district-owned grounds.
Donkeys used in basketball games are often dragged, kicked, or hit by stray balls and are sometimes seriously injured in falls. Food and water are often withheld before games in an effort to prevent unsightly "accidents." Even though experts agree that the animals are only able to bear a little more than 100 pounds, the donkeys are typically forced to carry full-grown adults in donkey basketball games. The games also pose a risk to human participants. An Illinois man was awarded more than $110,000 after being injured in a donkey basketball game, and a Wisconsin state senator fell off a donkey and broke her leg. Donkey basketball games have been put out to pasture in many areas of the country. The Monmouth County Education Association in New Jersey instituted a ban on donkey basketball games, and Pennsylvania's Northwestern School District agreed to ban the use of any live animals for entertainment purposes.
For more information, please visit peta2.com.