Dear Editor:
RE: The Thorning Revisited column entitled Donkey baseball was popular in mid-20th century, June 6.
While it may be an entertaining event for some, there are a few reasons we don’t see donkey baseball around much anymore.
Most come down to logistical problems. To begin with, there simply aren’t many people who keep big enough herds of big enough donkeys to put on such a show any more. But besides dwindling ownership, there is indeed a greater swell of animal welfare advocacy. This is not to be confused with animal rights activists/terrorists like PETA. Those of us who know and love donkeys, understand their capabilities and needs. This makes us nervous about events like donkey baseball/basketball.
For a donkey to safely carry an adult of 130 to 200 pounds, it has to be at least a very large standard, or mammoth donkey, which there are few of in our area. On top of size and being fit enough to ride, you need to have the donkey trained. Due to the huge misconception about donkeys being “stubborn”, people don’t always take the care or time needed to train their donkeys.
This is not fair to the animals, who have no idea of what is being asked of them, how to act to get praise or release from kicking and tugging, nor is it fair to their reputation to show the public untrained animals.
All of this aside, donkeys are living creatures, not just another piece of sports equipment. If you put people who don’t know how to ride on donkeys who don’t know how to be ridden, with no tack, in an environment where these people will get dumped off and jump back on many times, you’re putting strain on the animals. Due to their stoic nature it is very easy to mistake their “silence” as acceptance. While animals are not people, and they love to have “jobs” and participate in events with us, they do have needs and there is a limit to the use and abuse they can take.
If someone had teams of properly sized, fit, trained donkeys for properly sized, trained people it could be a really cool, fun event! But donkey baseball/basketball events that follow those guidelines and are fair to donkeys are far and few between – if they’ve ever existed.
For this reason, those of us in the long-ear world are hesitant to see them come back into fashion. Donkeys are worth more than a cheap thrill.
Taylor Valentine,
Fergus