School calls off lion-hunting fundraiser amid animal rights backlash

A Northern Cape private high school has removed lion hunting as a fundraising prize following an outcry by animal rights organisations last week.

Futurum Akademie principal Rudy Meyer said the school wanted to make it clear it only launched projects that were legal and within acceptable ethical standards – and that the school would not be involved in any practices that would deliberately harm pupils, the nature or society.

Other fundraising events

Meyer said other fundraising events for the year include a fun walk, an art exhibition, note guessing, a golf day and a men’s night.

“Funds raised through these projects will be used for the development of the site, such as the construction of multipurpose sports courts for tennis and netball, staff salaries, equipment, expansion of classes, a school bus, hostel, laptops, solar power and so on,” he said.

Meyer said the adoption of the amendments to the Basic Education Act posed a great risk for Afrikaans schools.

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“Under these amendments, the state has the final say and school governing bodies are deprived of the right to a school’s language and determine and apply admissions policy.

“Because of the incredible pressure on public schools as a result of the legislation, more and more challenges are being posed to private schools to meet the need to provide affordable, quality Afrikaans education.”

No government subsidies or aid for private schools

Meyer said the only way private schools could meet the financial requirements for effective school management was through, among others, such fundraising events.

“Private schools receive no government subsidies or aid as is the case with public schools,” he explained.

“It is important to mention that practically all schools launch similar projects to improve their financial position.

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“In the case of Futurum Academy, the hunting auction [was to be] in collaboration with an expert, as the school does not have the expertise or infrastructure to manage a project of this magnitude.

“This is how it was decided to use the services of Dirk van Ward. The company’s reputation and past successes in fundraising for schools are used as criteria for Futurum Akademie manage fundraising project.

“Although the school was very happy with the company’s offer, the hunt for the lion was removed from the proposed offer.”