The hundreds of people who packed the gymnasium cheered with each basket. They giggled when a player fell of a donkey, or if the animal decided it would run away from the basket. Cheerleaders lined both baselines. Spectators munched on cookies and slices of pizza.

The donkey basketball tournament might have been controversial, but few people seemed to care. Hundreds turned out for the event at Graham-Kapowsin High School, which raised money for the Bethel School District Foundation.

“This is an excellent time,” Debbie Waynick said. “Such a good time.”

Waynick, a teacher at Cedar Crest Junior High in Spanaway, had never before played donkey basketball, in which players ride the animals around the court. She finished scoreless but earned a few style points: She caught a rebound, but her donkey started to walk away from the basket, so she flipped the ball over her head. It spun around the rim and fell out, but the shot drew cheers from the crowd.

“It was an awesome, awesome time,” said Jim Warnke, a fourth-grade teacher at Elk Plain Elementary School. “The donkeys handled it very well. I see nothing wrong with it – but everyone’s entitled to their opinions.”

Three women, though, weren’t happy with the event – and they protested outside the gates to the school.

They worried people attending the donkey basketball games would see the event as harmless fun, and they had concerns about the animals’ welfare.

“We’re out here for the animals. This is just exploitation,” said Marilyn Wilfong of Graham. “Why don’t we go back to having bear wrestling or pit-bull dogfights?”

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