I've traveled the country, and some other parts of the world, educating people on why paying attention to bestiality (a/k/a animal sex abuse) is an important thing to do. Much of what I do is repetitive, and yet I still haven't found a quick and easy way, an elevator speech if you will, that sums up just what it is and how to deal with it.

For starters, bestiality means different things to different people. For example, if you're talking with a psychologist, psychiatrist, or sexologist they're likely to refer to sex between human and animals in terms of fantasy, romance, and an atypical sexual desire called zoophilia. If you're talking to a social workers or acacademic, who generally want to be as open-minded and politically correct as possible, they will think of sex acts between humans and and animals as a form of interspecies sex or an atypical form of the human-animal bond. Speak to a legislator or conservative American, and they're likely to refer to it as an abominable crime against nature. Anyone from law enforcement, law, or criminal justice will likely consideer it as animal cruelty, a sexual assault, or bestiality.

So let me simplify. zoophilia is about feelings, crimes against nature are about morals, human-animal bonds are about empathy and interaction, and bestiality is, in the U.S. at least, a criminal sex act a person performs with an animal or allows an animal to perform on him or her. It's not pretty. It's not easy to talk about. But it's no joke, and I think it's important to share just how complicated some of these sitations are, and how it impacts each of us in ways you may not have thought of.  So, here are some real-world examples of what happens.

Case Study 1:

In 2017 Colorado officers responded to a domestic violence report. The woman told officers that she had found animal pornography on the computer she shared with her boyfriend, and that over the next six months, he urged her to "have an open mind". Her showed her bestiality forums and images and guided her through the process of learning how to be a willing sex partner with their dog. The boyfriend bought hormone spray to arouse the dog, and built a customized padded bench to make the sex acts easier. He set up a camera so he could film each of them having sex with the dog. He took her and the dog to the trailer in their backyard where they could practice bestiality in private. But the couple began to fight over how much attention the boyfriend was paying to the dog, and the girlfriend realized she was tired of being pressured to perform. The couple were arrested in 2018 on 4 counts of animal cruelty and bestiality; the case is pending.

Case Study 2:

In early 2017, a 54-year-old Wisconsin man was caught running from a barn where a horse had been found with a bleeding rectum. He served 60 days in jail, and almost immediately after release injured two show horses by repeatedly thrusting his arm into each of their rectums.  Prior to that incident, the offender had been arrested eight times between 1993-2015 for similar attacks, injuring or killing at least 18 horses across the state. In one such incident he fisted a pony while masturbating, then hogtied and draped the animal over a fence where it was later found with a broom sticking out of its anus. In other incidents, he assaulted pregnant mares, cutting the nipples off one broodmare in foal. In four of the eight cases, the offender was given jail time, but received early release from each incarceration and quickly reoffended. In one case involving the death of five horses, he was sentenced to 14 years for burglary, animal mistreatment, and bestiality. After serving two years of the sentence, he successfully appealed the conviction on the basis that in using his fist and not his sex organ, he had not committed the crime of bestiality according to Wisconsin law.

Case Study 3:In 2016, an investigation into child pornography led Virginia enforcement officers to the home of two male roommates, aged 28 and 39. Officers found the child porn they were looking for, but also found numerous videos depicting both men having sex with several of the eight dogs on the property. The animals were removed and the two men arrested. During a background check, it was discovered that the older man had an outstanding warrant for child rape in Pennsylvania. He was extradited to stand trial, and the child victim gave a chilling account of how he had been taken to “furry parties” by a relative, and was shared among four men and at least one woman. Two of those suspects had previously been arrested for interpersonal violence; one of the men had been arrested for possession of child pornography, and another admitted to previously molesting dogs without being detected. The younger man who was the original subject of the Virginia investigation was sentenced to 20 months’ work release for felony and misdemeanor animal cruelty.  

Case Study 4:

In the summer of 2005, a divorced, highly educated, 45-year-old father was pronounced dead after being anally penetrated by an intact male horse. The fatal injury occurred at a small rural farm in Washington State that was advertised in Internet chat rooms as a destination for people seeking sex with animals. The farm drew visitors from all over the world, with as many as 30 people gathering on weekends. There were cows, bulls, sheep, standard and mini horses, goats, dogs, and chickens on the property; risk-taking guests could also trespass next door to gain access to show horses that had been previously conditioned to accept or perform sex acts with people. Many of the sex acts that took place during the gatherings were videotaped and then given to guests or shared freely over the internet. At the time of the deadly incident, there was no state law prohibiting bestiality, so one person received a $300 fine for trespssing and then quietly left the state, moving his animal family to a rented farm in Tennessee where he was arrested four yeras later on bestiality charges, along with another man and a woman.