I've been meaning to do this for awhile! After being basenji-less for over 20 years, we recently adopted a 9 yr old girl from BRAT. Pippi is wonderful and we feel so lucky to have found her.
I agree with the others that this is not a common practice among BCOA breeders. I am sorry that this happened to you and yes, you should get your deposit back.
I live near the mountains in Colorado. There are some great trails with open space all around to let thme run around.
Gosh I'm so jealous!! We don't have any plasce we could let our pooches loose. I would love a big open space sans any basenji prey :) that way they'll come back