Zoophilia Wiki - User contributions [en]

Legality of bestiality by country or territory

2015-07-20T12:00:01Z

92.16.99.220: Added year that Denmark outlawed bestiality in table

{{multiple issues|
{{Expert-subject|talk=Needs to be supervised by an expert(s) on law and/or anthropology to give a more critical view on the article's subject|date=March 2014}}
{{refimprove|date=August 2012}}
{{POV-check|date=July 2011}}
}}
{{sex and the law}}
'''Zoophilia and the law''' looks at the laws governing humans performing sex acts on animals. Laws against humans performing sex acts on animals, where they exist, are concerned with the actual act, which it commonly refers to as ''[[bestiality]]'', rather than the sexual attraction to animals. For this reason, prohibitions of zoophilic pornography is more varied; they may be unlawful if an actual sex act with an animal is involved, but the status is not clear cut if there is a mere representation, such as a painting or cartoon. In that case, normal [[obscenity law]]s will normally apply. All [[Animal pornography|zoophilic imagery]] is widely regarded as [[pornography]].

== Objectives ==
Laws on zoophilic activity tend to be shaped by animal welfare concerns, moral views, and cultural beliefs. In many cultures, humans are viewed as different from other animals and having sex with animals is seen as defilement (see [[speciesism]]).<ref name="sciamer">{{cite web |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=animal-lovers-zoophiles-make-scient-2010-03-24 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050203183132/http://www.news24.com/News24/Backpage/Crime_Court/0,,2-1343-1345_1655555,00.html |archivedate=2005-02-03 |title=Hubby does it doggy style}}</ref>{{Unreliable source|date=April 2015}}{{Failed verification|date=April 2015}}

The practice of humans having sex with animals sometimes involves [[animal cruelty]] or [[animal abuse]], a practice sometimes called [[zoosadism]]. However, not all sexual activity with animals involves cruelty.

== Recent legislation ==
For centuries, sexual acts on animals were illegal under [[sodomy law]]s or "crime against nature" laws. Since the 1950s most sodomy laws have been repealed and in some places specific anti-bestiality laws have been enacted.

Bestiality was outlawed in [[Norway]] in 2008,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://africanpress.me/2007/11/17/sex-with-animals-to-be-banned-in-norway/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326084927/http://africanpress.me/2007/11/17/sex-with-animals-to-be-banned-in-norway/ |archivedate=2012-03-26 |title=Sex with animals to be banned in Norway}}</ref> [[The Netherlands]] in 2010,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.last.fm/forum/23/_/599411 |title=Dutch Parliament OKs Ban on Beastiality – In the News – |publisher=Last.fm |date= |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref> [[Australian Capital Territory]] in 2011,<ref name="ACT">{{cite web |url= http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/b/db_40369/20101209-46298/pdf/db_40369.pdf |title=Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 |work=Australian Capital Territory Legislation Register |year=2010 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref> [[Sweden]] in 2013, <ref>http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2341789/Sweden-set-ban-bestiality-scrapping-legal-loophole-legal-animal-did-suffer.html</ref> and [[Denmark]] in 2015.<ref>http://www.euronews.com/newswires/3009322-denmark-bans-bestiality-in-move-against-animal-sex-tourism/</ref>

In the U.S., as of 2012, bestiality is illegal in 37 states. Most state bestiality laws were enacted between 1999 and 2012.<ref name="StateLaws">{{cite web |first=Rebecca F. |last=Wisch |url=http://www.animallaw.info/articles/State%20Tables/tbusanimalassault.htm |title=Table of State Animal Sexual Assault Laws |publisher=Michigan State University College of Law |year=2013 |accessdate=2013-01-04}}</ref> Laws were enacted in [[Pennsylvania]] in 1999,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.philly.com/1999-06-04/news/25497636_1_bestiality-pennsylvania-lawmakers-sexual-activity |title=Accidentally Decriminalized, Bestiality To Go Back On Books - Philly.com |publisher=Articles.philly.com |date=2009-09-24 |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref> [[Iowa]] in 2001,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusiast717B_1_717E.htm#s717C_1 |title=Iowa Animal Anti-Cruelty Statute |publisher=Animallaw.info |date=2004-04-09 |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref> [[Illinois]] in 2002,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-11614863.html |title=Ryan signs anti-bestiality legislation - The Pantagraph Bloomington |first=Kurt |last=Erickson |work=HighBeam Research |date=July 27, 2002 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref> [[Maryland]] in 2002,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusmd10_601_622.htm#s3_322 |title=Maryland Consolidated Cruelty Statutes |publisher=Animallaw.info |date= |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref> [[Washington (state)|Washington]] in 2006,<ref>{{cite news| url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002838346_bestiality02m.html | work=The Seattle Times | first=Jennifer | last=Sullivan | title=Lawmakers vote to make bestiality illegal in this state | date=2 March 2006}}</ref>{{Dead link|date=April 2015}} [[Arizona]] in 2006,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2006/05/24/13598-governor-signs-bill-to-ban-bestiality/ |title=Governor signs bill to ban bestiality - Tucson Citizen Morgue, Part 1 (2006-2009) |publisher=Tucsoncitizen.com |date=2006-05-24 |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref> [[Indiana]] in 2007,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusinst35_46_3_1_13.htm |title=Indiana Consolidated Cruelty Statutes |publisher=Animallaw.info |date= |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref> [[Tennessee]] in 2007,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/archive/2009/03/21/states-considering-laws-against-bestiality.aspx |title=States considering laws against bestiality - OhMyGov News |publisher=Ohmygov.com |date= |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref>{{Dead link|date=April 2015}} [[Colorado]] in 2007,<ref name="zoocolorado">{{cite news| url=http://www.denverpost.com/legislature/ci_5682180 |title=Bill adds bestiality to animal cruelty law | work=Denver Post | first=Jennifer | last=Brown |date=April 17, 2007 }}</ref> [[Alaska]] in 2010,<ref name="politicsdaily.com">{{cite web|last=Drake |first=Bruce |url=http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/01/27/bill-to-criminalize-bestiality-advances-in-alaska-legislature/ |title=Bill to Criminalize Bestiality Advances in Alaska Legislature |publisher=Politicsdaily.com |date= |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref> and [[Florida]] in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/05/05/anti-bestiality-law-finally-passes-in-florida/ |title=Anti-Bestiality Law Finally Passes In Florida « CBS Miami |publisher=Miami.cbslocal.com |date=2011-05-05 |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref> Laws which prohibit non-abusive bestiality have been criticized for being discriminatory, unjust and unconstitutional.<ref name="interdis">{{cite web |url= http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/cutteridgepaper.pdf |title=For the Love of Dog: On the Legal Prohibition of Zoophilia in Canada and the United States |first=Brian Anthony |last=Cutteridge |work=inter-disciplinary.net |year=2010 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref><ref name="mroberts">{{cite journal |doi=10.2139/ssrn.1328310 |title=The Unjustified Prohibition against Bestiality: Why the Laws in Opposition Can Find No Support under the Harm Principle |year=2009 |last1=Roberts |first1=Michael |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal}}</ref>

== Background ==

{{Globalize/West | section | date=March 2014}}

=== International differences ===
Some jurisdictions list laws very clearly, such as [[England and Wales]], which specifically prohibits penetration of a human being by the penis of an animal, and penetration of an animal by a human's penis.<ref name="UKlaw69">{{cite web |url= http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/69 |title=Sexual Offences Act 2003, Section 69 |work=HM Government |year=2003 |accessdate=13 July 2014}}</ref>

By contrast, many countries and US states are less precise about the scope of law in that they outlaw sex with animals, without defining what constitutes "sex".{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}

Even if bestiality is not explicitly prohibited, there are often many other laws which can be used to effectively prosecute cases. For example, most countries have animal cruelty laws, and a prosecutor will argue that all zoophilia activity is animal abuse.<ref>The argument that "all sexual activity with animals is automatically abuse" was made for example, in 1) the 2004 case of [http://pet-abuse.com/cases/2206/FL/US/1 State vs. Mitchell] (Florida), 2) the 2004 Pony case in Utrecht, Holland (cited below), and 3) the 2006 Washington state law which asserts as its foundational premise that "animal cruelty in the first degree is committed when a person knowingly engages in sexual conduct or sexual contact with an animal." [http://washingtonvotes.org/2006-SB-6417 SB-6417 2006]</ref> In some U.S. states, a person who engages in bestiality can be charged with animal cruelty.<ref name="shelby">{{cite web |url= http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2011/06/16/story-shelby-man-charged-with-animal-abuse-sex.html |title=Man Charged With Sexually Abusing Animals |work=WBNS-10TV |date=June 16, 2011 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref>

=== Prohibitions without specific bestiality statutes ===
Some countries have a range laws on their books. Sometimes [[sodomy law]]s or "[[crime against nature]]" laws are used to prosecute people who have sex with animals.

In the case of [[Kenneth Pinyan]], who died from injuries sustained from receiving anal sex from a horse, local law enforcement found that there were no laws that allowed them to prosecute his friend, who had filmed the event and also allowed himself to be sodomized by the horse. The friend was prosecuted for trespassing. That case prompted the Washington State legislature to draw up legislation outlawing sex with animals.<ref name="thestranger">{{cite news|url=http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=30811|accessdate=2006-04-30|title=The Animal In You|publisher=The Stranger|date=February–March 2006}}</ref>

In a 2005 [[Florida]] case, a man who had sex with his dog was charged with disorderly conduct, since the state had no anti-bestiality laws on the books at the time.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.guidehorse.org/news_guide_dog_abuse.htm |title=Man charged with having intercourse with his Guide Dog |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521055021/http://www.guidehorse.org/news_guide_dog_abuse.htm |archivedate=2008-05-21}}</ref> On October 1, 2011 the state of Florida State Law 828.126, F.S went into effect, banning sex with animals.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2011/0344/BillText/er/PDF |title=Section 828.126, Florida Statutes |work=The Florida Senate |year=2011 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref>

== Laws against zoophilia ==
Aggrawal has discussed extensively on laws against zoophilia.<ref name="aggrawal">{{cite book | first=Anil | last=Aggrawal | coauthors= | title=Forensic and Medico-legal Aspects of Sexual Crimes and Unusual Sexual Practices | publisher=[[CRC Press]] | location=Boca Raton | year=2009 | isbn=978-1-4200-4308-2 |url=http://crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781420043082}}</ref> It is permitted in a few countries although ordinary animal treatment laws apply.

There are also commonly laws against forcing another person to engage in zoophilia activity, especially minors (usually considered equivalent to [[rape]]), and laws related to exposing others (either non-consensually or minors) to the sight of a sexual act. In some jurisdictions, laws against zoophilia conduct also include provisions for seizure of animals where convicted.

===Exceptions===
{{see also|Artificial insemination#In livestock and pets|Semen collection#By species|Horse sheath cleaning}}
Sexual handling of an animal for the purposes of [[Veterinarian|veterinary]] practice, or [[animal husbandry]] (breeding), is normally exempted where such laws exist. In public discussion for the recently passed Oregon law, however, one animal shelter's spokesperson wanted the husbandry exemption kept out, as he was concerned that someone might use these "accepted farming practices" as a legal loophole to then have (legal) sexual contact with an animal only for personal enjoyment. One of the legislators responded by asking if they were trying to outlaw an act (of sexual contact), or a state of mind. The veterinary and husbandry exemption was left out of Oregon's law in the final, enacted version.

==Zoophilic pornography==
{{main|Animal pornography}}
The legality of pornography has three components: legality of production, legality of sale and transportation, and legality of ownership. In general, animal pornography is legal to produce where both zoophilic activity and the creation of pornography in general are legal. Laws concerning sale, transmission and ownership vary more widely.

Erotic art, such as animal pornography in cartoons and the like, which does not require the recording of an actual sexual act, are not usually considered sex with animals by the law, and so their status depends upon more general laws such as legal limits upon obscenity or pornography alone, and the thin line between erotic art and pornography.

== National laws ==

{{anchor|by country}}
{{Unreliable sources|section|date=March 2014}}

{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"
! style="width:12.5%;"| Country or territory
! style="width:12.5%;"| Zoosexual activity
! style="width:12.5%;"| Sale and distribution of zoophilic pornography
! style="width:12.5%;"| Ownership of zoophilic pornography
|-
|{{flagicon|Australia}} [[Australia]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty varies by state/territory)<ref name="au_state_laws">Ref: Halsbury's Laws of Australia #9 page 247662:
Criminal offence: [[New South Wales]] (Crimes Act 1900 s79, not more than 14 years imprisonment), [[Northern Territory]] (Criminal Code s138, not more than 3 years imprisonment), [[Queensland]] (Criminal Code s211: "carnal knowledge of an animal", not more than 7 years imprisonment), [[South Australia]] (Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 s69, "buggery with an animal", not more than 10 years imprisonment), [[Tasmania]] (Criminal Code s122(b), not more than 21 years imprisonment), [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] (Crimes Act 1958 s59, not more than 5 years imprisonment), [[Western Australia]] (Criminal Code s181: "carnal knowledge of an animal", not more than 7 years imprisonment), [[Australian Capital Territory]] (Crimes Act 1900, s63A inserted in 2011, "Bestiality", not more than 10 years imprisonment).</ref>
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal<ref>{{cite web|url=http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22library%2Fprspub%2FG1610%22|title=Legislation relating to pornography in Australia|publisher=|accessdate=27 June 2015}}</ref>
||[[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Belgium}} [[Belgium]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 2007 (penalty: up to 6 months in prison and a fine of 1.000 € maximum)<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Moniteur Belge / Belgisch Staatsblad |title=Lois, Decrets, Ordonnances Et Reglements / Wetten, Decreten, Ordonnanties En Verordeningen |pages=38259–38260 |date=13 July 2007 |accessdate=13 July 2014|language=fr}}/{{nl icon}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Brazil}} [[Brazil]]
||[[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] Legal<ref>{{cite web|url=http://revistaepoca.globo.com/Saude-e-bem-estar/noticia/2011/10/sexo-com-animais-por-que-fingir-que-isso-nao-existe.html|title=Revista Época - Sexo com animais: por que fingir que isso não existe? - notícias em Saúde e bem-estar|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>{{qn|date=November 2013}}<ref name="ecce bestia">[http://issuu.com/eziofb/docs/ezioflaviobazzo Ecce Bestia: Vice with Animals {{pt icon}}]</ref>{{qn|date=November 2013}} since 1830 (via [[Legal status of homosexuality in Brazil|repeal of sodomy laws]])
||[[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] Legal, never criminalized<ref name="ecce bestia"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0104-83332012000100009&script=sci_arttext|title=Cadernos Pagu - Sex with animals as an extreme practice in bizarre porn|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] Legal, never criminalized
|-
|{{flagicon|Cambodia}} [[Cambodia]]
||[[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] Legal<ref name="sciamer"/>{{Unreliable source|date=April 2015}}{{Failed verification|date=April 2015|reason=Does not say anything about the legality of sexual acts.}}
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Canada}} [[Canada]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: Maximum of 10 years in prison)<ref>{{cite web |url= http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-160-20120809.html |title=Criminal Code, Section 160 |work=Canadian Dept. of Justice |year=2012 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Denmark}} [[Denmark]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 2015<ref>{{Cite web|title = Flertal for lovændring: Nu bliver sex med dyr ulovligt|url = http://politik.tv2.dk/2015-04-21-flertal-for-lovaendring-nu-bliver-sex-med-dyr-ulovligt|accessdate = 2015-04-21}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Ecuador}} [[Ecuador]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: Maximum of 8 years in prison)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=195753|title=Ecuador|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Ethiopia}} [[Ethiopia]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: Imprisonment (no length given)<ref>[http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/oeur/arch/eth/TheRevisedCriminalCode.pdf Criminal Code of Ethiopia 2004 - Article 633.- Sexual Intercourse with an Animal.]</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Finland}} [[Finland]]
||[[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] Legal since 1971<ref>{{cite web |url= http://yliopistolehti.helsinki.fi/yl14art.htm#a6 |title=Järjettömäin luondocappalden canssa |first=Pekka |last=Kilpinen |work=[[University of Helsinki]] |year=2001 |accessdate=13 July 2014|language=fi}}</ref>
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal<ref name="finlex.fi">{{cite web|url=http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1889/18890039001#L17|title=FINLEX ® - Ajantasainen lainsäädäntö: 19.12.1889/39|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|France}} [[France]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 2004 (Penalty: Maximum of 2 years in prison and €30,000 fine)<ref>[French Penal Code - Chapter one: Serious abuse or acts of cruelty animals. - Article 521-1]</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Germany}} [[Germany]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 2013 (penalty: fine of 25.000 € maximum)<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/world/europe/german-legislators-vote-to-outlaw-bestiality.html?_r=0 |title=German Legislators Vote to Outlaw Bestiality |first=Chris |last=Cottrell |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 1, 2013 |publisher=[[New York Times Company|NYTC]] |location=[[New York, NY|New York]] |issn=0362-4331 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref>
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: Fine or maximum of 3 years in prison)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dejure.org/gesetze/StGB/184a.html|title=184a StGB Verbreitung gewalt- oder tierpornographischer Schriften - dejure.org|work=dejure.org|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Ghana}} [[Ghana]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: Maximum of 3 years in prison)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ghanalegal.com/?id=3&law=19&t=ghana-laws|title=GhanaLegal.com : Welcome - GhanaLegal - Resources for the legal brains|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Hong Kong}} [[Hong Kong]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: Maximum of 10 years in prison and $50,000 fine)<ref name="HongKong">{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.hk/blis_ind.nsf/da97f6a8ed400207482564820006b580/1659b5492cc3f751c8256483003225bd?OpenDocument|title=Cap 200 s 118L Bestiality (CRIMES ORDINANCE)|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Hungary}} [[Hungary]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: Fine of 50000 Ft Maximum)
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Ireland}} [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: Maximum of life in prison)<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=eTrDgPmgh7MC&pg=PA757&lpg=PA757&dq=Ireland+30.61+sodomy+and+bestiality&source=bl&ots=dlcKghaxUc&sig=XoLmu8jnRCzqY4FpoME67qIwXAU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UkRyUfvxIrix4APJlIGADg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Ireland%2030.61%20sodomy%20and%20bestiality&f=false|title=Criminal Law in Ireland|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|India}} [[India]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/1836974/|title=Section 377 in The Indian Penal Code|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Iran}} [[Iran]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: First three convictions are punished by ''[[ta'zir]]'' as determined by a judge Fourth offense is the [[death penalty]])<ref>[http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngo/NGO_submission_ELEI_Add.1.pdf e. Vaty-e heyvanat va Mayet-e-insan (bestiality and necrophilia), four offenses]</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Malaysia}} [[Malaysia]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: Maximum of 20 years in prison, fines, and whipping)<ref>[http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%2012/Act%20574.pdf Buggery with an animal - 377.]</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Mexico}} [[Mexico]]
||[[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] Legal
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Namibia}} [[Namibia]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal<ref>[http://allafrica.com/stories/201210110779.html Namibia: Rehoboth Man Arrested for Bestiality]</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Netherlands}} [[Netherlands]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 2010 (Penalty: Maximum of 1 year in prison and €19,500 fine)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0001854/TweedeBoek/TitelXIV/Artikel254/geldigheidsdatum_24-12-2012|title=wetten.nl - Wet- en regelgeving - Wetboek van Strafrecht - BWBR0001854|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 2010 (Penalty: Maximum imprisonment 6 months or a fine of the third category (€7,800))<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0001854/TweedeBoek/TitelXIV/Artikel254a/geldigheidsdatum_24-12-2012 |title=wetten.nl - Wet- en regelgeving - Wetboek van Strafrecht - BWBR0001854 |language=nl |publisher=Wetten.overheid.nl |date=2012-12-24 |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref>
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 2010 (Penalty: Maximum imprisonment 6 months or a fine of the third category (€7,800))
|-
|{{flagicon|New Zealand}} [[New Zealand]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: Maximum of 7 years in prison Maximum of 3 years in prison)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM329260.html|title=Crimes Act 1961|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM329261.html|title=Crimes Act 1961|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal
|-
|{{flagicon|Norway}} [[Norway]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 2008<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.regjeringen.no/en/archive/Stoltenbergs-2nd-Government/Ministry-of-Agriculture-and-Food/Nyheter-og-pressemeldinger/nyheter/2009/new-animal-welfare-act-.html?id=562543 |title=New Animal Welfare Act |work=regjeringen.no |date=15 May 2009 |accessdate=13 July 2014}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Philippines}} [[Philippines]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=24b_1316867350|title=LiveLeak.com - catholic filipino charged for raping dog he also loves pigs too|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=March 2014}}
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Poland}} [[Poland]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 1997. Defined as a type of animal abuse. (Penalty: Maximum 3 years in prison, donation to animal welfare charity and prohibition of owning an animal for up to 10 years. If done in order to distribute or sell the penalty is increased to a minimum of 6 months and maximum of 8 years in prison)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU20112301373 |title=Internetowy System Aktów Prawnych |publisher=Isap.sejm.gov.pl |date= |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref>
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: minimum of 6 months and maximum 8 years in prison)<ref>[http://www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/Europe/Global_Monitoring_Report-POLAND.pdf Polish Penal Code, Article 202, Section 3. ]</ref>
||[[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] Legal (as long as it is not owned with intention of publicizing, sharing or selling)
|-
|{{flagicon|Portugal}} [[Portugal]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal<ref name="History of Zoophilia and The Law" >{{cite web|url=http://www.lectlaw.com/files/sex04.htm|title=History of Zoophilia and The Law|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Romania}} [[Romania]]
||[[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] Legal<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Z-GbOvrbniQC&pg=PT10&lpg=PT10&dq=Romania+zoophilia&source=bl&ots=gnZi9glK_U&sig=nk93rUHdFgCndX9tSae-W1lyVU4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4rGQUcayD4--4AOGp4HQAQ&ved=0CFIQ6AEwBA|title=Bestiality and Zoophilia|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[Image:Emblem-question.svg|15px]] Ambiguous (Law only mentions a ban on "sites with [...] zoophilic content", which are to be blocked by ISPs at the request of the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.legi-internet.ro/legislatie-itc/pornografie/legea-1962003-privind-combaterea-pornografiei-republicata.html | title=Legea nr. 196 din 13 mai 2003 privind prevenirea si combaterea pornografiei | accessdate=23 May 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Yes check.svg|15px]] Legal<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.legi-internet.ro/legislatie-itc/pornografie/legea-1962003-privind-combaterea-pornografiei-republicata.html | title=Legea nr. 196 din 13 mai 2003 privind prevenirea si combaterea pornografiei | accessdate=23 May 2015}}</ref>
|-
|{{flagicon|Singapore}} [[Singapore]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: Maximum of 2 years in prison and fine)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/aol/search/display/view.w3p;query=Status%3Acurinforce%20Type%3Aact,sl%20Content%3A%22Sexual%22%20Content%3A%22penetration%22%20Content%3A%22with%22%20Content%3A%22living%22%20Content%3A%22animal%22;rec=0;resUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fstatutes.agc.gov.sg%2Faol%2Fsearch%2Fsummary%2Fresults.w3p%3Bquery%3DStatus%253Acurinforce%2520Type%253Aact,sl%2520Content%253A%2522Sexual%2522%2520Content%253A%2522penetration%2522%2520Content%253A%2522with%2522%2520Content%253A%2522living%2522%2520Content%253A%2522animal%2522|title=Singapore Statutes Online - 224 - Penal Code|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|South Africa}} [[South Africa]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: determined by judge)<ref>[http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2007-032.pdf Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007], s. 13.</ref>
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: maximum 5 years in prison and R200,000 fine)<ref>[http://www.fpb.org.za/profile-fpb/legislation/doc_download/293-films-and-publications-act-no-65 Films and Publications Act 65 of 1996] s. 24A(2) read with s. 18(3)(b)(ii).</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Sweden}} [[Sweden]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 2014 (Penalty : fine, prison up to 2 years, or both)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.webpronews.com/sweden-joins-an-increasing-number-of-european-countries-that-ban-bestiality-2013-06|title=Sweden Joins An Increasing Number Of European Countries That Ban Bestiality|work=WebProNews|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Switzerland}} [[Switzerland]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/455_1/a16.html|title=SR 455.1 Tierschutzverordnung vom 23. April 2008 (TSchV)|author=Bundeskanzlei - A|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal<ref>See [[Official publications of Switzerland|FJ]] 2000 p. 2981.</ref>
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal
|-
|{{flagicon|Thailand}} [[Thailand]]
||[[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] Legal<ref>[http://www.traveltails.com/Updates/update_may2004.htm May 2004 Update from the Land of Randy Pandas]</ref>{{Dead link|date=April 2015}} No law mentions zoophilia.
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Zoophilic pornography falls within the definition of pornography. Distribution of any pornography is illegal.
||[[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Trinidad and Tobago}} [[Trinidad and Tobago]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2012-04-25/mayaro-labourer-bestiality-charge|title=Mayaro labourer on bestiality charge|work=The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|-
|{{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 1290 (Penalty: Maximum of 2 years in prison for conviction on indictment Maximum of 6 months in prison and a fine for summary conviction) Intercourse with an animal (see [[Sexual Offences Act 2003]]<ref name="UKlaw69"/>)
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 2008<ref>[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/16/extreme_pr0n_convictions/ Extreme porn law used on beastly Chinese DVD pirates]</ref> (see [[Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008]])
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal since 2008 (see [[Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008]])
|-
|{{flagicon|United States}} [[United States]] {{Main|Zoophilia and the law in the United States}}
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] / [[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] Varies by state, territory, or district.
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] / [[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] Varies by state, territory, or district.
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] / [[Image:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] Varies by state, territory, or district.
|-
|{{flagicon|Zambia}} [[Zambia]]
||[[Image:X mark.svg|15px|No]] Illegal (Penalty: Maximum of 5 years in prison)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afrol.com/archive/documents/ilga_2000.htm|title=ILGA Africa 2000 Report|publisher=|accessdate=14 January 2015}}</ref>
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
||[[File:Emblem-question.svg|15px]]
|}

== History ==
{{Main|History of zoophilia}}

== Mentions in the press ==

{{Unreliable sources|section|date=April 2015}}
{{Tone|section|date=March 2014}}

* ''"Freddie the Dolphin"'' (1991, UK) - man accused of masturbating a well known tame [[dolphin]] at sea. Charged with a "lewd act". Acquitted. Expert witnesses testified male dolphins use their [[erection]]s not just sexually, but socially as well, and no sexual inference could be drawn. Judge summing up said of the £30,000 trial cost, "this has been the most expensive lesson in dolphin sociology that he has ever heard of".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.praxagora.com/sierra/flum/9203.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118202339/http://www.praxagora.com/sierra/flum/9203.htm |archivedate=2006-11-18 |title=The Flummery Digest}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2015}}
* [[Kenneth Pinyan]] (2005, USA) - man died following anal penetration by a stallion, which was filmed by his friend. The death led to rapid introduction of laws in Washington state against sex with animals.<ref name="StateLaws"/>{{Failed verification|date=April 2015|reason=Site does not mention incidents, only lists laws.}}
* [[Sudan]] (February 2006) - man caught having sex with a neighbour's [[goat]], is ordered by the council of [[Elder (administrative title)|elders]] to pay the neighbour a [[dowry]] of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) and marry the animal.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4748292.stm |title=Africa | Sudan man forced to 'marry' goat |publisher=BBC News |date=2006-02-24 |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref>
* [[Cambodia]] (2005) - man caught having a "passionate embrace" in bed with dog, by wife, confessed he loved the dog more and they separated. Cambodian police commented: "As police, we could only solve the problem of his wife then wanting a divorce. We cannot solve the problem of his relationship with his dog, because under Cambodian law it is not strictly illegal... It is amazing, but this husband is not crazy. It seems he is a passionate human being who looked at a dog, and the more he looked, the more passionate he became."<ref name="sciamer"/>{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2015}}
* [[Wisconsin, USA]] (2007) - Bryan James Hathaway was convicted for having sex with a dead deer. The court case raised some interesting legal issues because the statute prohibits sex with animals, but not carcasses. The defence raised the issue that if a dead animal was an animal, at what point would it cease to be an animal.<ref>{{cite news|last=Haines|first=Lester|title=Sex with dead deer is illegal, US man finds|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/22/deer_man_convicted/|newspaper=The Register|date=22 March 2007}}</ref>
* [[Kansas|Kansas, USA]] (2012) - Joshua Coman was convicted in Kansas of criminal sodomy (a misdemeanor), but the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that he did not have to register as a sex offender.<ref name="kansaslaw2">{{cite web|last=Rabiner |first=Stephanie |url=http://blogs.findlaw.com/legally_weird/2012/04/dog-molester-wont-have-to-register-as-sex-offender.html |title=Dog Molester Won't Have to Register as Sex Offender - Legally Weird |publisher=Blogs.findlaw.com |date=2012-04-06 |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref><ref name="statecoman">{{cite web|url=http://www.kscourts.org/cases-and-opinions/opinions/ctapp/2009/20090828/100494.htm |title=100494 - State v. Coman - Greene - Kansas Court of Appeals |publisher=Kscourts.org |date= |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref>
* [[Vancouver, Canada]] (2012) - Brian Cutteridge, bestiality proponent, was arrested after the SPCA claims to have a video of him engaging in sex with one of his dogs.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/02/26/bc-vancouver-bestiality.html | work=CBC News | title=Vancouver man faces bestiality charge | date=26 February 2012}}</ref>
* [[Phoenix, Arizona|Arizona, USA]] (2012) - Sarah Dae Walker and her husband pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bestiality in a case where Craigslist was used.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.kpho.com/story/18895998/pair-plead-guilty-in-craigslist-bestiality-case | work=CBS 5 | title=Pair plead guilty in Craigslist bestiality case | date=28 June 2012}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Animal trial]]
* [[Human–animal marriage]]
* [[Legal status of internet pornography]]
* [[Sexual norm]]
* [[Social norm]]
* [[Sodomy law]]
* [[Sudanese goat marriage incident]]
* [[Zoophilia]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Zoosexuality}}
{{Sexual ethics}}
{{law country lists}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2012}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zoosexuality And The Law}}
[[Category:Animal rights]]
[[Category:Sex laws]]
[[Category:Zoophilia]]

History of retardation

2015-07-20T11:50:40Z

92.16.99.220: Added Denmark to list of countries where bestiality is banned

The '''history of [[zoophilia]]''' (also known as '''bestiality''') begins in the [[Prehistory|prehistoric era]], where depictions of humans and animals in a sexual context appear infrequently in European [[rock art]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bahn|first=Paul G.|title=The Cambridge illustrated history of prehistoric art|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-45473-5|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xwm_D1u_UTsC&pg=PA188&dq|accessdate=18 February 2012|page=188}}</ref> Bestiality remained a theme in [[mythology]] and [[folklore]] through the classical period and into the Middle Ages (e.g. the Greek myth of [[Leda and the Swan]])<ref name="HSE" /> and several ancient authors purported to document it as a regular, accepted practice – albeit usually in "other" cultures.

Explicit legal prohibition of human sexual contact with animals is a legacy of the [[Abrahamic religions]]:<ref name="HSE" /> the [[Hebrew Bible]] imposes the death penalty on both the person and animal involved in an act of bestiality.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{bibleverse||Leviticus|20:15|131}}</ref> There are several examples known from medieval Europe of people and animals executed for committing bestiality. With the [[Age of Enlightenment]], bestiality was subsumed with other sexual "[[crimes against nature]]" into civil [[sodomy]] laws, usually remaining a capital crime.

Bestiality remains [[Zoophilia and the law|illegal in most countries]] and condoned in none. Though religious and "crime against nature" arguments may still be used to justify this, today the central issue is the ability of non-human animals to give [[consent]]: it is argued that sex with animals is inherently [[Sexual abuse|abusive]].<ref>Regan, Tom. ''Animal Rights, Human Wrongs''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, pp. 63-4, 89.</ref> In common with many [[paraphilia]]s, the [[internet]] has allowed the formation of a [[Zoophilia#Zoophile community|zoophile community]] that has begun to lobby for zoophilia or zoosexuality to be considered an alternative sexuality and for the legalisation of bestiality.<ref>{{cite news|last=Francis|first=Thomas|title=Those Who Practice Bestiality Say They're Part of the Next Sexual Rights Movement|url=http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2009-08-20/news/those-who-practice-bestiality-say-they-re-part-of-the-next-gay-rights-movement/|accessdate=18 February 2012|newspaper=Broward Palm Beach New Times|date=20 August 2009}}</ref>

==Prehistory==
Depictions of human sexual activity with animals appear infrequently in [[prehistoric art]]. Possibly the oldest depiction, and the only known example from the [[Palaeolithic]] (prior to the [[Neolithic revolution|domestication of animals]]), is found in the [[Côa Valley Paleolithic Art|Vale do Côa]] in [[Portugal]]. It shows a man with an exaggerated, erect penis juxtaposed with a goat. However, there is some doubt that the two figures are contemporary; while the goat is depicted in characteristic palaeolithic style, the scene may have been altered in a later period with the insertion of the human figure.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Angulo Cuesta|first=J.|last2=García Diez|first2=M.|title=Diversity and meaning of Palaeolithic phallic male representations in Western Europe|journal=Actas Urol Esp|year=2006|volume=30|issue=3|pages=254–267|url=http://www.actasurologicas.info/v30/n03/ENG/3003OR02.htm}}</ref>

From the [[Neolithic]] onwards, images of zoophilia are slightly more common. Examples are found at ''Coren del Valento'', a cave in [[Val Camonica]], [[Italy]], containing [[rock art]] dating from 10,000 BCE to as late as the [[Middle Ages]], one depicting a man penetrating a horse,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Anati|first=E.|title=The Way of Life Recorded in the Rock Art of Valcamonica|journal=Adoranten|year=2008|issue=2008|url=http://www.ssfpa.se/pdf/2008/anati_adorant08.pdf|publisher=Scandinavian Society for Prehistoric Art}}</ref> and [[Sagaholm]], a [[Bronze Age]] [[cairn]] in [[Sweden]] where several [[petroglyphs]] have been found with similar scenes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sagaholm|url=http://home.online.no/~wen-mja/ontherocks/sagaholm.htm|work=On the rocks|accessdate=18 February 2012}}</ref>

==Classical antiquity==
[[File:Leda - after Michelangelo Buonarroti.jpg|thumb|right|Leda and the Swan]]
[[File:Pan goat MAN Napoli Inv27709 n01.jpg|thumb|right|Satyr and Goat]]
Several [[Greek mythology|Greek myths]] include the God [[Zeus]] seducing or abducting favoured mortals while in the form of an animal: [[Europa (mythology)|Europa]] and the bull, [[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]] and the eagle, and [[Leda and the Swan]].<ref name="HSE">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Cornog |first1=M. |last2=Perper |first2=T. |year=1994 |title=Bestiality |editor1-last=Haeberle |editor1-first=E. J. |editor2-last=Bullough |editor2-first=B. L. |editor3-last=Bullough |editor4-last=B. |encyclopedia=Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Garland |location=New York & London |url=http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/SEN/CH06.HTM#b3-BESTIALITY |accessdate=18 February 2012 }}</ref> Only the latter legend includes actual copulation between Leda and Zeus in his animal form, but depictions of this act, fairly uncommon in antiquity, became a popular motif in classicising [[Renaissance]] art, contributing to a lasting prominence in [[Western culture]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bull|first=M.|title=The Mirror of the Gods, How Renaissance Artists Rediscovered the Pagan Gods|year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0-19-521923-6}}</ref>
[[File:Zoophilia.jpg|thumb|right|Zoophilia carving on Rock with Old Kannada script engraved at [[Kedareshvara Temple, Balligavi]]]]

Various classical writers recorded that bestiality was common in other cultures. [[Herodotus]] was followed by [[Pindar]], [[Strabo]] and [[Plutarch]]{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} in alleging that [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] women engaged in sexual relations with goats for religious and magical purposes - the animal aspects of Egyptian deities being particularly alien to the Greco–Roman world.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ray|first=J. D.|title=The Ancient Gods Speak: A Guide to Egyptian Religion|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-515401-6|editor=Redford, D. B.|accessdate=18 February 2012|page=90|chapter=Animal Cults}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Leavitt|first=J.|title=Greek and Egyptian Mythologies|year=1992|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|isbn=978-0-226-06454-3|editor=Bonnefoy, Y.|page=248|chapter=The Cults of Isis among the Greeks and in the Roman Empire}}</ref> Conversely, Plutarch and [[Virgil]] make similar accusations of the Greeks, with Plutarch writing in his ''Discourse on the Reason of Beasts'' that they committed "very frequently and in many places great outrages, disorders and scandals against nature, in the matter of this pleasure of love; for there are men who have loved she-goats, sows and mares."

Despite their place in mythology and literature, actual acts of bestiality were probably as uncommon in antiquity as they are today.<ref name="HSE" /> [[Roman law|Roman civil law]], however, made no mention of it.<ref>{{cite web|last=Norton|first=R.|title=Of Sodomy and Bestiality|url=http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1729disn.htm|work=Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook|accessdate=18 February 2012}}</ref> The explicit prohibition of and strict penalties for zoophilia universal in later European legal systems were derived from Jewish and Christian tradition.<ref name="HSE" /> The [[Hebrew Bible]] imposes the death penalty on both the human and animal parties involved in an act of bestiality: "if a man has sexual relations with an animal, he shall be put to death; and you shall kill the animal."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The [[Synod of Ancyra]] in 313–316 discussed the position of the church with regard to bestiality at length and two of the resulting twenty-five canons addressed it: the sixteenth canon described the [[penance]] and level of restrictions to be applied to various age groups for committing bestiality; the seventeenth canon prohibited all [[leper]]s from praying inside church if they had committed bestiality while they suffered from leprosy.<ref>{{cite web|title=THE COUNCIL OF ANCYRA, HISTORICAL NOTE & CANONS|url=http://www.synaxis.org/canon/ECF37THE_COUNCIL_OF_ANCYRA_HISTORICAL.htm|accessdate=18 February 2012}}</ref>

[[Hittite laws|Hittite law]] mandated the death penalty for intercourse with animals, excluding horses and mules (violators were instead barred from the priesthood and from approaching the king).<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/1650nesilim.asp The Code of the Nesilim, c. 1650-1500 BCE] Retrieved 24 July 2013</ref>

==Europe: Middle Ages==
In the Church-oriented culture of the [[Middle Ages]], zoosexual activity was met with execution, typically burning, and death to the animals involved either the same way or by hanging. Masters comments that:
:"Theologians, bowing to Biblical prohibitions and basing their judgements on the conception of man as a spiritual being and of the animal as a merely carnal one, have regarded the same phenomenon as both a violation of Biblical edicts and a degradation of man, with the result that the act of bestiality has been castigated and [[anathema]]tized [...]"

In 1468, Jean Beisse, accused of bestiality with a cow on one occasion and a goat on another, was first hanged, then burned. The animals involved were also burned. In 1539, Guillaume Garnier, charged with intercourse with a female dog (described as "sodomy"), was ordered strangled after he confessed under [[torture]]. The dog was burned, along with the trial records which were "too horrible and potentially dangerous to be permitted to exist" (Masters). In 1601, [[Claudine de Culam]], a young girl of sixteen, was convicted of copulating with a dog. Both the girl and the dog were first hanged, and finally burned. In 1735, François Borniche was charged with sexual intercourse with animals. It was greatly feared that "his infamous debauches may corrupt the young men." He was imprisoned, and there is no record of his release.

On the other hand, other accounts are more possibly fictitious, such as [[Pietro Damiani]]'s, who in his "De bono religiosi status et variorum animatium tropologia" (11th century) tells of a Count Gulielmus whose pet ape became his wife's lover. One day the ape became "mad with jealousy" on seeing the count lying with his wife that it fatally attacked him. Damiani claims he was told about this incident by [[Pope Alexander II]] and shown an offspring claimed to be that of the ape and woman. (''Illustrated Book of Sexual Records'')

Clergyman and chronicler [[Gerald of Wales]] claimed to have witnessed a man having intercourse with a horse as part of a [[pagan]] ritual in Ireland.<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_/ai_n12800341 Last Night's Television: Always let a sleeping pagan lie]</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2004/jul/20/television.artsfeatures | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Please, please tell me now | date=July 20, 2004 | accessdate=May 4, 2010 | first=Nancy | last=Banks-Smith}}</ref>

Although thousands of female [[witch]]es were accused of having sex with animals, usually said to be the [[Devil]] in animal form or their [[Familiar spirit|familiars]], court records available in Europe and the United States, dating back to the 14th century and continuing into the 20th century, nearly always show males, rather than females, as the human parties in court cases. (''Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality'', Humboldt University)

{{Further|Demons and animals|Animal trial}}

==French Revolution and liberalization==
From at least the 13th century and until the [[French Revolution]], French criminal law had theoretically punished bestiality with death (burning at the stake), although in practice law courts only occasionally meted out that penalty. Notable public displays of bestiality was one of the many factors which led to the French Revolution. When the revolutionary politicians of the [[National Constituent Assembly]] set out to remake French government and society, their reforms included new criminal laws [[liberalization|liberalizing]] sexual activities, which inspired by ideas of the 18th-century [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. In 1791, [[Louis-Michel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau]] presented a newly drafted [[French Penal Code of 1791|penal code]] to the National Constituent Assembly. He explained that it outlawed only "true crimes" and not "phoney offenses, created by superstition, feudalism, the tax system, and [royal] despotism." Zoophilia was not mentioned in the new Penal Code (promulgated September 26-October 6, 1791) and thus decriminalized it.<ref name="Napoleonic Code">[http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/napoleonic_code.html Napoleonic Code ]</ref><ref name="Sexual Relations with Animals">[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z-GbOvrbniQC&pg=PT9&lpg=PT9&dq=Russia+law+zoophilia&source=bl&ots=goUa6gjR1Q&sig=5uKE-tmILm9pQOCMU44pBC1oKrM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h_cMVKmoO9SAsQSIy4GgDA&ved=0CGsQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=Russia%20law%20zoophilia&f=false Bestiality and Zoophilia: Sexual Relations with Animals ]</ref>

In 1810, the [[French Penal Code of 1810]] was enacted as part of [[Napoleonic Code]] of the [[First French Empire]]. After that time the subject of bestiality was not included in civil code of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In 19th-century France, bestiality became an organized practice, and at the time of Napoleon III, bestiality was said to have been one of the allied activities of the Society for the Advancement of Sodomy, which met regularly in the [[Avenue Montaigne|allée des Veuves]].<ref name="Sexual Relations with Animals" /> In 1835, the [[Russian Empire]] criminalized ''skotolozhstvo'' (bestiality) in the country. In 1845, the Russian Empire merged both ''muzhelozhstvo'' and ''skotolozhstvo'' statues together into a single statue prohibiting ''protivoestestvennye poroki'' (vices contrary to nature).<ref name="Sex and the Search for Modernity in Fin-de-siècle Russia" /> On August 20, 1848, [[Norway]] adopted new penal codes which replaced a 1687 law that implemented the capital punishment by burning for "intercourse which is against nature" (bestiality) and reduced the punishment for engaging in bestiality from capital punishment to a sentence of hard labor of the fifth degree.<ref name="Criminally Queer">{{cite book |last=Rydström |first=Jens |date=May 31, 2007 |title=Criminally Queer: Homosexuality and Criminal Law in Scandinavia 1842-1999 |accessdate=September 9, 2014 }}</ref>

In 1852, the [[Austrian Empire]] enacted § 130 which criminalized bestiality with a maximum of five years in prison. About fifty people were convicted annually due to the law.<ref name="an Unrecognized Problem in Animal Welfare Legislation" /> In 1861, the [[Offences against the Person Act 1861]] lowered the criminal penalty of buggery in the United Kingdom from the death penalty to life in prison.<ref name="Sexual Relations with Animals" /> On February 10, 1866, [[Denmark]] (including [[Greenland]] and [[Faroes]]) adopted new penal codes which replaced a 1683 law that implemented the death penalty at the stake by means of royal pardon for "intercourse against nature" (bestiality) and reduced the punishment for engaging in bestiality from capital punishment to a sentence of hard labor ranging from about eight months to six years, which was further reduced with about one third if the penalty was served in solitude.<ref name="Criminally Queer" /> On June 25, 1869, [[Iceland]] adopted a new penal code replaced a 13th-century law mandating death by burning for "intercourse which is against nature" (bestiality) to a punishment of work in a house of correction.<ref name="Criminally Queer" />

On May 15, 1871, the [[German Empire]] enacted [[Paragraph 175]] into the “Reichs-Criminal Code” (RStGB) which outlawed zoophilia and punished it by imprisonment.<ref name="an Unrecognized Problem in Animal Welfare Legislation" /><ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=44lheqlq-jYC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=May+15,+1871+Paragraph+175&source=bl&ots=mS77ERc3OT&sig=HQtoyCNOYrS3fZvqVgvButM7Y14&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3HgOVIyPL7OIsQTRhYLgBA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=May%2015%2C%201871%20Paragraph%20175&f=false Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago before Stonewall]</ref> In 1878, the penal code of the [[Kingdom of Hungary]] criminalized bestiality with a maximum of one year in prison.<ref name="Sexual Relations with Animals" /> [[Sweden]], in 1864, and [[Grand Duchy of Finland]], on December 19, 1889, adopted new penal codes replacing and a 1734 penal code, which applied to both countries and criminalized bestiality with being burnt at the stake. The 1864 Swedish law punished "fornication with animals" (bestiality) with two years hard labor, while the 1889 Finished law punished bestiality with imprisonment for two years.<ref name="Criminally Queer" />

On June 28, 1935, [[Nazi Germany]] enacted legislation that created a separate category in [[Paragraph 175]] for "fornication with animals" and penalized with up to five years in prison.<ref name="an Unrecognized Problem in Animal Welfare Legislation">[http://www.tierimrecht.org/en/PDF/Zoophilia_an_Unrecognized_Problem_in_Animal_Welfare_Legislation.pdf Sexuality with Animals (Zoophilia) – an Unrecognized Problem in Animal Welfare Legislation ]</ref> In 1949, [[East Germany]] was created and the country never considered bestiality an offense during the country's existence.<ref name="Sexual Relations with Animals" /> Zoophilia was exempt from punishment in over 80% of European countries in 1950s.<ref name="History of Zoophilia and The Law">[http://www.lectlaw.com/files/sex04.htm History of Zoophilia and The Law]</ref>

During the 20th century, zoophilia was legalized in the [[Russian Empire]] in 1903,<ref name="Sex and the Search for Modernity in Fin-de-siècle Russia">[http://books.google.com/books?id=sal0Ez_Q-pYC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=Russia+skotolozhstvo&source=bl&ots=15Qm0-WQD1&sig=Z_DpkXbqWg-Y_-4OYNrcfs_SWuk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_24OVLSWBrTGsQSetoGoBw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Russia%20skotolozhstvo&f=false The Keys to Happiness: Sex and the Search for Modernity in Fin-de-siècle Russia ]</ref> in [[Denmark]] (including [[Greenland]] and [[Faroes]]) on January 1, 1933,<ref name="Criminally Queer" /><ref>[http://www.thegranitetower.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=905 Animal Slaughter is Illegal in Denmark but Animal Prostitution Is Not ]</ref> in [[Iceland]] on August 12, 1940,<ref name="Criminally Queer" /> in [[Sweden]] in 1944,<ref>[http://www.inquisitr.com/163453/sweden-considering-ban-on-beastiality/ Sweden Considering Ban On Beastiality ]</ref> in [[Hungarian People's Republic]] in 1961, in [[West Germany]] in 1969,<ref name="an Unrecognized Problem in Animal Welfare Legislation" /> in [[Austria]] in 1971,<ref name="an Unrecognized Problem in Animal Welfare Legislation" /> in [[Finland]] on January 15, 1971,<ref name="Criminally Queer" /><ref>{{cite web |url= http://yliopistolehti.helsinki.fi/yl14art.htm#a6 |title=Järjettömäin luondocappalden canssa |first=Pekka |last=Kilpinen |work=[[University of Helsinki]] |year=2001 |accessdate=13 July 2014|language=fi}}</ref> and Norway on [[Section 213 of the Norwegian Penal Code|April 21, 1972]].<ref name="Criminally Queer" />

In 2003, the [[Sexual Offences Act 2003]] lowered the criminal penalty of bestiality in the United Kingdom from life in prison to two years in prison.<ref>[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/69 Intercourse with an animal ]</ref>

On November 30, 2006, Denmark's Council for Animal Ethics said there was no need to ban bestiality unless it took place in pornographic films or sex shows. Only one of the 10 members of the council, set up by the Danish Justice Ministry to establish and uphold animal ethics, wanted bestiality expressly prohibited. The other members said current laws provided enough animal protection.<ref>[http://uk.reuters.com/article/2006/11/30/oukoe-uk-denmark-sex-idUKL3073141820061130 Animal sex proposal spurs call for referendum ]</ref> However, after campaigning by the Agriculture and Food minister [[Dan Jørgensen]] as well as the hacktavist group [[Anonymous (group)|Anonymous]] bestiality was made illegal in Denmark as of April, 15 2015.<ref name="OpNullDenmark">[http://thecryptosphere.com/2015/04/22/opbeast-exclusive-interview-with-the-victorious-anonymous-team-behind-opnulldenmark/ #OpBeast: Exclusive Interview with the Victorious #Anonymous Team Behind #OpNullDenmark]</ref>

During the 21st century, zoophilia was re-criminalized in the following countries or territories: [[Iowa]] (illegal since 2001),<ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusiast717B_1_717E.htm#s717C_1 717C.1. Bestiality]</ref> [[Maine]] (illegal since 2001),<ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusmest_t7_4011_4018.htm#s1031 Maine]</ref> [[Oregon]] (illegal since 2001),<ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusorst167_310_390.htm#s333 167.333. Sexual assault of animal]</ref> [[Illinois]] (illegal since January 1, 2003),<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-11614863.html |title=Ryan signs anti-bestiality legislation - The Pantagraph Bloomington |first=Kurt |last=Erickson |work=HighBeam Research |date=July 27, 2002 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref><ref>[https://www.animallaw.info/statute/il-cruelty-generally-consolidated-cruelty-statutes-humane-care-animals-act#s5_12_35 5/12-35. Sexual conduct or sexual contact with an animal ]</ref> [[Maryland]] (illegal since October 1, 2002),<ref>[https://www.animallaw.info/statute/md-cruelty-consolidated-cruelty-statutes#s3_322 § 3-322. Unnatural or perverted sexual practice ]</ref><ref>[http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?ys=2002rs/billfile/HB0011.htm 2002 Regular Session HOUSE BILL 11 ]</ref> [[South Dakota]] (illegal since July 1, 2003),<ref name="animallaw1">[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stussdst40_1_2_1_2_6.htm#s22_22_42 § 22-22-42. Bestiality--Acts constituting--Commission a felony]</ref><ref>[http://legis.sd.gov/sessions/2003/1061.htm House Bill 1061 ]</ref><ref>[https://www.statescape.com/resources/Effective_dates/effective_dates.aspx Effective Dates for Legislation ]</ref> [[France]] (illegal since March 10, 2004),<ref>[French Penal Code - Chapter one: Serious abuse or acts of cruelty animals. - Article 521-1]</ref> [[Washington (US state)|Washington]] (illegal since June 7, 2006),<ref>[http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2005&bill=6417 SB 6417 - 2005-06 ]</ref><ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stuswast16_52_010_305.htm#s205 16.52.205. Animal cruelty in the first degree]</ref> [[Arizona]] (illegal since September 21, 2006),<ref>[http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=SB1160&Session_ID=83 SB1160 community facilities districts; financing (NOW: animal welfare; rescue; bestiality) ]</ref><ref>[http://www.azleg.gov/GeneralEffectiveDates.asp General Effective Dates ]</ref><ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusazst13_2910.htm#s1411 § 13-1411. Bestiality; classification; definition ]</ref> [[Belgium]] (illegal since May 11, 2007),<ref>[http://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/la-zoophilie-interdite-51b7c174e4b0de6db98c0a46 La zoophilie interdite ]</ref><ref>[http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/Doc/XrefViewPDF.asp?FileID=13173&Language=EN Violent and extreme pornography ]</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Moniteur Belge / Belgisch Staatsblad |title=Lois, Decrets, Ordonnances Et Reglements / Wetten, Decreten, Ordonnanties En Verordeningen |pages=38259–38260 |date=13 July 2007 |accessdate=13 July 2014}} {{fr icon}}/{{nl icon}}</ref> [[Colorado]] (illegal since July 1, 2007),<ref>[http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/Clics2013A/csl.nsf/MainBills?openFrameset Summarized History for Bill Number HB07-1235 ]</ref><ref>[http://tornado.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/olls/digest2007a/CRIMINALLAWANDPROCEDURE.htm#07-1235 H.B. 07-1235 Cruelty to animals - impounded and forfeited animals - euthanasia - dangerous dogs - property damage - sexual act with animal - injured animals - euthanasia - domestic violence - violation of court order protecting animals - aggravated animal cruelty offenders - genetic testing. ]</ref><ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stuscost18_9_201.htm#s202 § 18-9-202. Cruelty to animals--aggravated cruelty to animals--cruelty to a service animal--restitution]</ref> [[Indiana]] (illegal since July 1, 2007),<ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusinst35_46_3_1_13.htm#s14 35-46-3-14 Bestiality]</ref><ref>[http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo?year=2007&request=getActions&doctype=HB&docno=1387 Action List: House Bill 1387 ]</ref> [[Tennessee]] (illegal since July 1, 2007),<ref>[http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0487&GA=105 *SB 0487 by *Finney R. ( HB 0953 by *Maggart) ]</ref><ref>[http://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/2010/title-39/chapter-14/part-2/39-14-214/ 39-14-214. Criminal offenses against animals.]</ref> [[Netherlands]] (illegal since 2010),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0001854/TweedeBoek/TitelXIV/Artikel254a/geldigheidsdatum_24-12-2012 |title=wetten.nl - Wet- en regelgeving - Wetboek van Strafrecht - BWBR0001854 |language=nl|publisher=Wetten.overheid.nl |date=2012-12-24 |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref> [[Norway]] (illegal since January 1, 2010),<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.regjeringen.no/en/archive/Stoltenbergs-2nd-Government/Ministry-of-Agriculture-and-Food/Nyheter-og-pressemeldinger/nyheter/2009/new-animal-welfare-act-.html?id=562543 |title=New Animal Welfare Act |work=regjeringen.no |date=15 May 2009 |accessdate=13 July 2014}}</ref> [[Alaska]] (illegal since September 13, 2010),<ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusakst03_55_100.htm#s140 Sec. 11.61.140 Cruelty to animals. ]</ref><ref>[http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20%20%206&session=26 ]</ref> [[Australian Capital Territory]] (illegal since 2011),<ref name="ACT">{{cite web |url= http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/b/db_40369/20101209-46298/pdf/db_40369.pdf |title=Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 |work=Australian Capital Territory Legislation Register |year=2010 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref> [[Florida]] (illegal since October 1, 2011),<ref>[http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=44953 SB 344 - Animal Cruelty ]</ref><ref>[http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=44966 CS/HB 125 - Animal Cruelty ]</ref><ref>[http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0800-0899/0828/Sections/0828.126.html 828.126 Sexual activities involving animals.— ]</ref> [[Germany]] (illegal since 2013),<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/world/europe/german-legislators-vote-to-outlaw-bestiality.html?_r=0 |title=German Legislators Vote to Outlaw Bestiality |first=Chris |last=Cottrell |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 1, 2013 |publisher=[[New York Times Company|NYTC]] |location=[[New York, NY|New York]] |issn=0362-4331 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref> [[Sweden]] (illegal since January 1, 2014),<ref>[http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/352387 Sweden set to ban bestiality in 2014 ]</ref> and [[Denmark]] (illegal since April 2015)<ref name="OpNullDenmark" />

When Germany passed a law banning zoophilia in 2013, the zoophile community protested and filed a suit against the government saying the law violated their rights. A few months later, ZETA, a German zoophile-rights group, put together a peaceful protest/march that would make its way through the street of Berlin. The group used the march to highlight the persecution that zoophiles face every day.<ref>[http://www.webpronews.com/zoophiles-march-on-berlin-to-demand-equal-rights-2013-02 Zoophiles March On Berlin To Demand Equal Rights ]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Humanzee]]
* [[Anthrozoology]]
* [[History of sex]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* Marie-Christine Anest: ''Zoophilie, homosexualite, rites de passage et initiation masculine dans la Greece contemporaine'' (Zoophilia, homosexuality, rites of passage and male initiation in contemporary Greece)'' (1994), ISBN 2-7384-2146-6
* Dubois-Dessaule: ''Etude Sur la Bestiality au point de Vue Historique (The Study of Bestiality from the Historical, Medical and Legal Viewpoint)'' (Paris, 1905)
* Gaston Dubois-Desaulle: ''Bestiality: An Historical, Medical, Legal, and Literary Study'', University Press of the Pacific (November 1, 2003), ISBN 1-4102-0947-4 (Paperback Ed.)
* Hans Hentig Ph.D.: ''Soziologie der Zoophilen Neigung (Sociology of the Zoophile Preference)'' (1962)
* Bronisław Malinowski: ''The Trobriand Islands'' (1915) ''The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia'' (1929)
* Robson, ''Bestiality and Bestial Rape in Greek Myth'', 1997, S. Deacy and K. F. Pearce (edd.), Rape in Antiquity, Duckworth, 65-96
* Voget, F. W. (1961) Sex life of the American Indians, in Ellis, A. & Abarbanel, A. (Eds.) The Encyclopaedia of Sexual Behavior, Volume 1. London: W. Heinemann, p90-109
*Holy Scriptures-Ezekiel 23:28
{{zoophilia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Historical And Cultural Perspectives On Zoophilia}}
[[Category:Zoophilia]]
[[Category:Zoophilia in culture]]

History of retardation

2015-07-20T11:42:08Z

92.16.99.220: Bestiality now illegal in Denmark

The '''history of [[zoophilia]]''' (also known as '''bestiality''') begins in the [[Prehistory|prehistoric era]], where depictions of humans and animals in a sexual context appear infrequently in European [[rock art]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bahn|first=Paul G.|title=The Cambridge illustrated history of prehistoric art|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-45473-5|url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xwm_D1u_UTsC&pg=PA188&dq|accessdate=18 February 2012|page=188}}</ref> Bestiality remained a theme in [[mythology]] and [[folklore]] through the classical period and into the Middle Ages (e.g. the Greek myth of [[Leda and the Swan]])<ref name="HSE" /> and several ancient authors purported to document it as a regular, accepted practice – albeit usually in "other" cultures.

Explicit legal prohibition of human sexual contact with animals is a legacy of the [[Abrahamic religions]]:<ref name="HSE" /> the [[Hebrew Bible]] imposes the death penalty on both the person and animal involved in an act of bestiality.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{bibleverse||Leviticus|20:15|131}}</ref> There are several examples known from medieval Europe of people and animals executed for committing bestiality. With the [[Age of Enlightenment]], bestiality was subsumed with other sexual "[[crimes against nature]]" into civil [[sodomy]] laws, usually remaining a capital crime.

Bestiality remains [[Zoophilia and the law|illegal in most countries]] and condoned in none. Though religious and "crime against nature" arguments may still be used to justify this, today the central issue is the ability of non-human animals to give [[consent]]: it is argued that sex with animals is inherently [[Sexual abuse|abusive]].<ref>Regan, Tom. ''Animal Rights, Human Wrongs''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, pp. 63-4, 89.</ref> In common with many [[paraphilia]]s, the [[internet]] has allowed the formation of a [[Zoophilia#Zoophile community|zoophile community]] that has begun to lobby for zoophilia or zoosexuality to be considered an alternative sexuality and for the legalisation of bestiality.<ref>{{cite news|last=Francis|first=Thomas|title=Those Who Practice Bestiality Say They're Part of the Next Sexual Rights Movement|url=http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2009-08-20/news/those-who-practice-bestiality-say-they-re-part-of-the-next-gay-rights-movement/|accessdate=18 February 2012|newspaper=Broward Palm Beach New Times|date=20 August 2009}}</ref>

==Prehistory==
Depictions of human sexual activity with animals appear infrequently in [[prehistoric art]]. Possibly the oldest depiction, and the only known example from the [[Palaeolithic]] (prior to the [[Neolithic revolution|domestication of animals]]), is found in the [[Côa Valley Paleolithic Art|Vale do Côa]] in [[Portugal]]. It shows a man with an exaggerated, erect penis juxtaposed with a goat. However, there is some doubt that the two figures are contemporary; while the goat is depicted in characteristic palaeolithic style, the scene may have been altered in a later period with the insertion of the human figure.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Angulo Cuesta|first=J.|last2=García Diez|first2=M.|title=Diversity and meaning of Palaeolithic phallic male representations in Western Europe|journal=Actas Urol Esp|year=2006|volume=30|issue=3|pages=254–267|url=http://www.actasurologicas.info/v30/n03/ENG/3003OR02.htm}}</ref>

From the [[Neolithic]] onwards, images of zoophilia are slightly more common. Examples are found at ''Coren del Valento'', a cave in [[Val Camonica]], [[Italy]], containing [[rock art]] dating from 10,000 BCE to as late as the [[Middle Ages]], one depicting a man penetrating a horse,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Anati|first=E.|title=The Way of Life Recorded in the Rock Art of Valcamonica|journal=Adoranten|year=2008|issue=2008|url=http://www.ssfpa.se/pdf/2008/anati_adorant08.pdf|publisher=Scandinavian Society for Prehistoric Art}}</ref> and [[Sagaholm]], a [[Bronze Age]] [[cairn]] in [[Sweden]] where several [[petroglyphs]] have been found with similar scenes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sagaholm|url=http://home.online.no/~wen-mja/ontherocks/sagaholm.htm|work=On the rocks|accessdate=18 February 2012}}</ref>

==Classical antiquity==
[[File:Leda - after Michelangelo Buonarroti.jpg|thumb|right|Leda and the Swan]]
[[File:Pan goat MAN Napoli Inv27709 n01.jpg|thumb|right|Satyr and Goat]]
Several [[Greek mythology|Greek myths]] include the God [[Zeus]] seducing or abducting favoured mortals while in the form of an animal: [[Europa (mythology)|Europa]] and the bull, [[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]] and the eagle, and [[Leda and the Swan]].<ref name="HSE">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Cornog |first1=M. |last2=Perper |first2=T. |year=1994 |title=Bestiality |editor1-last=Haeberle |editor1-first=E. J. |editor2-last=Bullough |editor2-first=B. L. |editor3-last=Bullough |editor4-last=B. |encyclopedia=Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Garland |location=New York & London |url=http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/SEN/CH06.HTM#b3-BESTIALITY |accessdate=18 February 2012 }}</ref> Only the latter legend includes actual copulation between Leda and Zeus in his animal form, but depictions of this act, fairly uncommon in antiquity, became a popular motif in classicising [[Renaissance]] art, contributing to a lasting prominence in [[Western culture]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Bull|first=M.|title=The Mirror of the Gods, How Renaissance Artists Rediscovered the Pagan Gods|year=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0-19-521923-6}}</ref>
[[File:Zoophilia.jpg|thumb|right|Zoophilia carving on Rock with Old Kannada script engraved at [[Kedareshvara Temple, Balligavi]]]]

Various classical writers recorded that bestiality was common in other cultures. [[Herodotus]] was followed by [[Pindar]], [[Strabo]] and [[Plutarch]]{{Citation needed|date=February 2012}} in alleging that [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] women engaged in sexual relations with goats for religious and magical purposes - the animal aspects of Egyptian deities being particularly alien to the Greco–Roman world.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ray|first=J. D.|title=The Ancient Gods Speak: A Guide to Egyptian Religion|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-515401-6|editor=Redford, D. B.|accessdate=18 February 2012|page=90|chapter=Animal Cults}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Leavitt|first=J.|title=Greek and Egyptian Mythologies|year=1992|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|isbn=978-0-226-06454-3|editor=Bonnefoy, Y.|page=248|chapter=The Cults of Isis among the Greeks and in the Roman Empire}}</ref> Conversely, Plutarch and [[Virgil]] make similar accusations of the Greeks, with Plutarch writing in his ''Discourse on the Reason of Beasts'' that they committed "very frequently and in many places great outrages, disorders and scandals against nature, in the matter of this pleasure of love; for there are men who have loved she-goats, sows and mares."

Despite their place in mythology and literature, actual acts of bestiality were probably as uncommon in antiquity as they are today.<ref name="HSE" /> [[Roman law|Roman civil law]], however, made no mention of it.<ref>{{cite web|last=Norton|first=R.|title=Of Sodomy and Bestiality|url=http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1729disn.htm|work=Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook|accessdate=18 February 2012}}</ref> The explicit prohibition of and strict penalties for zoophilia universal in later European legal systems were derived from Jewish and Christian tradition.<ref name="HSE" /> The [[Hebrew Bible]] imposes the death penalty on both the human and animal parties involved in an act of bestiality: "if a man has sexual relations with an animal, he shall be put to death; and you shall kill the animal."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The [[Synod of Ancyra]] in 313–316 discussed the position of the church with regard to bestiality at length and two of the resulting twenty-five canons addressed it: the sixteenth canon described the [[penance]] and level of restrictions to be applied to various age groups for committing bestiality; the seventeenth canon prohibited all [[leper]]s from praying inside church if they had committed bestiality while they suffered from leprosy.<ref>{{cite web|title=THE COUNCIL OF ANCYRA, HISTORICAL NOTE & CANONS|url=http://www.synaxis.org/canon/ECF37THE_COUNCIL_OF_ANCYRA_HISTORICAL.htm|accessdate=18 February 2012}}</ref>

[[Hittite laws|Hittite law]] mandated the death penalty for intercourse with animals, excluding horses and mules (violators were instead barred from the priesthood and from approaching the king).<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/1650nesilim.asp The Code of the Nesilim, c. 1650-1500 BCE] Retrieved 24 July 2013</ref>

==Europe: Middle Ages==
In the Church-oriented culture of the [[Middle Ages]], zoosexual activity was met with execution, typically burning, and death to the animals involved either the same way or by hanging. Masters comments that:
:"Theologians, bowing to Biblical prohibitions and basing their judgements on the conception of man as a spiritual being and of the animal as a merely carnal one, have regarded the same phenomenon as both a violation of Biblical edicts and a degradation of man, with the result that the act of bestiality has been castigated and [[anathema]]tized [...]"

In 1468, Jean Beisse, accused of bestiality with a cow on one occasion and a goat on another, was first hanged, then burned. The animals involved were also burned. In 1539, Guillaume Garnier, charged with intercourse with a female dog (described as "sodomy"), was ordered strangled after he confessed under [[torture]]. The dog was burned, along with the trial records which were "too horrible and potentially dangerous to be permitted to exist" (Masters). In 1601, [[Claudine de Culam]], a young girl of sixteen, was convicted of copulating with a dog. Both the girl and the dog were first hanged, and finally burned. In 1735, François Borniche was charged with sexual intercourse with animals. It was greatly feared that "his infamous debauches may corrupt the young men." He was imprisoned, and there is no record of his release.

On the other hand, other accounts are more possibly fictitious, such as [[Pietro Damiani]]'s, who in his "De bono religiosi status et variorum animatium tropologia" (11th century) tells of a Count Gulielmus whose pet ape became his wife's lover. One day the ape became "mad with jealousy" on seeing the count lying with his wife that it fatally attacked him. Damiani claims he was told about this incident by [[Pope Alexander II]] and shown an offspring claimed to be that of the ape and woman. (''Illustrated Book of Sexual Records'')

Clergyman and chronicler [[Gerald of Wales]] claimed to have witnessed a man having intercourse with a horse as part of a [[pagan]] ritual in Ireland.<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_/ai_n12800341 Last Night's Television: Always let a sleeping pagan lie]</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2004/jul/20/television.artsfeatures | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Please, please tell me now | date=July 20, 2004 | accessdate=May 4, 2010 | first=Nancy | last=Banks-Smith}}</ref>

Although thousands of female [[witch]]es were accused of having sex with animals, usually said to be the [[Devil]] in animal form or their [[Familiar spirit|familiars]], court records available in Europe and the United States, dating back to the 14th century and continuing into the 20th century, nearly always show males, rather than females, as the human parties in court cases. (''Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality'', Humboldt University)

{{Further|Demons and animals|Animal trial}}

==French Revolution and liberalization==
From at least the 13th century and until the [[French Revolution]], French criminal law had theoretically punished bestiality with death (burning at the stake), although in practice law courts only occasionally meted out that penalty. Notable public displays of bestiality was one of the many factors which led to the French Revolution. When the revolutionary politicians of the [[National Constituent Assembly]] set out to remake French government and society, their reforms included new criminal laws [[liberalization|liberalizing]] sexual activities, which inspired by ideas of the 18th-century [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]]. In 1791, [[Louis-Michel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau]] presented a newly drafted [[French Penal Code of 1791|penal code]] to the National Constituent Assembly. He explained that it outlawed only "true crimes" and not "phoney offenses, created by superstition, feudalism, the tax system, and [royal] despotism." Zoophilia was not mentioned in the new Penal Code (promulgated September 26-October 6, 1791) and thus decriminalized it.<ref name="Napoleonic Code">[http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/napoleonic_code.html Napoleonic Code ]</ref><ref name="Sexual Relations with Animals">[http://books.google.com/books?id=Z-GbOvrbniQC&pg=PT9&lpg=PT9&dq=Russia+law+zoophilia&source=bl&ots=goUa6gjR1Q&sig=5uKE-tmILm9pQOCMU44pBC1oKrM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h_cMVKmoO9SAsQSIy4GgDA&ved=0CGsQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=Russia%20law%20zoophilia&f=false Bestiality and Zoophilia: Sexual Relations with Animals ]</ref>

In 1810, the [[French Penal Code of 1810]] was enacted as part of [[Napoleonic Code]] of the [[First French Empire]]. After that time the subject of bestiality was not included in civil code of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In 19th-century France, bestiality became an organized practice, and at the time of Napoleon III, bestiality was said to have been one of the allied activities of the Society for the Advancement of Sodomy, which met regularly in the [[Avenue Montaigne|allée des Veuves]].<ref name="Sexual Relations with Animals" /> In 1835, the [[Russian Empire]] criminalized ''skotolozhstvo'' (bestiality) in the country. In 1845, the Russian Empire merged both ''muzhelozhstvo'' and ''skotolozhstvo'' statues together into a single statue prohibiting ''protivoestestvennye poroki'' (vices contrary to nature).<ref name="Sex and the Search for Modernity in Fin-de-siècle Russia" /> On August 20, 1848, [[Norway]] adopted new penal codes which replaced a 1687 law that implemented the capital punishment by burning for "intercourse which is against nature" (bestiality) and reduced the punishment for engaging in bestiality from capital punishment to a sentence of hard labor of the fifth degree.<ref name="Criminally Queer">{{cite book |last=Rydström |first=Jens |date=May 31, 2007 |title=Criminally Queer: Homosexuality and Criminal Law in Scandinavia 1842-1999 |accessdate=September 9, 2014 }}</ref>

In 1852, the [[Austrian Empire]] enacted § 130 which criminalized bestiality with a maximum of five years in prison. About fifty people were convicted annually due to the law.<ref name="an Unrecognized Problem in Animal Welfare Legislation" /> In 1861, the [[Offences against the Person Act 1861]] lowered the criminal penalty of buggery in the United Kingdom from the death penalty to life in prison.<ref name="Sexual Relations with Animals" /> On February 10, 1866, [[Denmark]] (including [[Greenland]] and [[Faroes]]) adopted new penal codes which replaced a 1683 law that implemented the death penalty at the stake by means of royal pardon for "intercourse against nature" (bestiality) and reduced the punishment for engaging in bestiality from capital punishment to a sentence of hard labor ranging from about eight months to six years, which was further reduced with about one third if the penalty was served in solitude.<ref name="Criminally Queer" /> On June 25, 1869, [[Iceland]] adopted a new penal code replaced a 13th-century law mandating death by burning for "intercourse which is against nature" (bestiality) to a punishment of work in a house of correction.<ref name="Criminally Queer" />

On May 15, 1871, the [[German Empire]] enacted [[Paragraph 175]] into the “Reichs-Criminal Code” (RStGB) which outlawed zoophilia and punished it by imprisonment.<ref name="an Unrecognized Problem in Animal Welfare Legislation" /><ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=44lheqlq-jYC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=May+15,+1871+Paragraph+175&source=bl&ots=mS77ERc3OT&sig=HQtoyCNOYrS3fZvqVgvButM7Y14&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3HgOVIyPL7OIsQTRhYLgBA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=May%2015%2C%201871%20Paragraph%20175&f=false Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago before Stonewall]</ref> In 1878, the penal code of the [[Kingdom of Hungary]] criminalized bestiality with a maximum of one year in prison.<ref name="Sexual Relations with Animals" /> [[Sweden]], in 1864, and [[Grand Duchy of Finland]], on December 19, 1889, adopted new penal codes replacing and a 1734 penal code, which applied to both countries and criminalized bestiality with being burnt at the stake. The 1864 Swedish law punished "fornication with animals" (bestiality) with two years hard labor, while the 1889 Finished law punished bestiality with imprisonment for two years.<ref name="Criminally Queer" />

On June 28, 1935, [[Nazi Germany]] enacted legislation that created a separate category in [[Paragraph 175]] for "fornication with animals" and penalized with up to five years in prison.<ref name="an Unrecognized Problem in Animal Welfare Legislation">[http://www.tierimrecht.org/en/PDF/Zoophilia_an_Unrecognized_Problem_in_Animal_Welfare_Legislation.pdf Sexuality with Animals (Zoophilia) – an Unrecognized Problem in Animal Welfare Legislation ]</ref> In 1949, [[East Germany]] was created and the country never considered bestiality an offense during the country's existence.<ref name="Sexual Relations with Animals" /> Zoophilia was exempt from punishment in over 80% of European countries in 1950s.<ref name="History of Zoophilia and The Law">[http://www.lectlaw.com/files/sex04.htm History of Zoophilia and The Law]</ref>

During the 20th century, zoophilia was legalized in the [[Russian Empire]] in 1903,<ref name="Sex and the Search for Modernity in Fin-de-siècle Russia">[http://books.google.com/books?id=sal0Ez_Q-pYC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=Russia+skotolozhstvo&source=bl&ots=15Qm0-WQD1&sig=Z_DpkXbqWg-Y_-4OYNrcfs_SWuk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_24OVLSWBrTGsQSetoGoBw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Russia%20skotolozhstvo&f=false The Keys to Happiness: Sex and the Search for Modernity in Fin-de-siècle Russia ]</ref> in [[Denmark]] (including [[Greenland]] and [[Faroes]]) on January 1, 1933,<ref name="Criminally Queer" /><ref>[http://www.thegranitetower.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=905 Animal Slaughter is Illegal in Denmark but Animal Prostitution Is Not ]</ref> in [[Iceland]] on August 12, 1940,<ref name="Criminally Queer" /> in [[Sweden]] in 1944,<ref>[http://www.inquisitr.com/163453/sweden-considering-ban-on-beastiality/ Sweden Considering Ban On Beastiality ]</ref> in [[Hungarian People's Republic]] in 1961, in [[West Germany]] in 1969,<ref name="an Unrecognized Problem in Animal Welfare Legislation" /> in [[Austria]] in 1971,<ref name="an Unrecognized Problem in Animal Welfare Legislation" /> in [[Finland]] on January 15, 1971,<ref name="Criminally Queer" /><ref>{{cite web |url= http://yliopistolehti.helsinki.fi/yl14art.htm#a6 |title=Järjettömäin luondocappalden canssa |first=Pekka |last=Kilpinen |work=[[University of Helsinki]] |year=2001 |accessdate=13 July 2014|language=fi}}</ref> and Norway on [[Section 213 of the Norwegian Penal Code|April 21, 1972]].<ref name="Criminally Queer" />

In 2003, the [[Sexual Offences Act 2003]] lowered the criminal penalty of bestiality in the United Kingdom from life in prison to two years in prison.<ref>[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/69 Intercourse with an animal ]</ref>

On November 30, 2006, Denmark's Council for Animal Ethics said there was no need to ban bestiality unless it took place in pornographic films or sex shows. Only one of the 10 members of the council, set up by the Danish Justice Ministry to establish and uphold animal ethics, wanted bestiality expressly prohibited. The other members said current laws provided enough animal protection.<ref>[http://uk.reuters.com/article/2006/11/30/oukoe-uk-denmark-sex-idUKL3073141820061130 Animal sex proposal spurs call for referendum ]</ref> However, after campaigning by the Agriculture and Food minister [[Dan Jørgensen]] as well as the hacktavist group [[Anonymous (group)|Anonymous]] bestiality was made illegal in Denmark as of April, 15 2015.<ref>[http://thecryptosphere.com/2015/04/22/opbeast-exclusive-interview-with-the-victorious-anonymous-team-behind-opnulldenmark/ #OpBeast: Exclusive Interview with the Victorious #Anonymous Team Behind #OpNullDenmark]</ref>

During the 21st century, zoophilia was re-criminalized in the following countries or territories: [[Iowa]] (illegal since 2001),<ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusiast717B_1_717E.htm#s717C_1 717C.1. Bestiality]</ref> [[Maine]] (illegal since 2001),<ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusmest_t7_4011_4018.htm#s1031 Maine]</ref> [[Oregon]] (illegal since 2001),<ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusorst167_310_390.htm#s333 167.333. Sexual assault of animal]</ref> [[Illinois]] (illegal since January 1, 2003),<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-11614863.html |title=Ryan signs anti-bestiality legislation - The Pantagraph Bloomington |first=Kurt |last=Erickson |work=HighBeam Research |date=July 27, 2002 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref><ref>[https://www.animallaw.info/statute/il-cruelty-generally-consolidated-cruelty-statutes-humane-care-animals-act#s5_12_35 5/12-35. Sexual conduct or sexual contact with an animal ]</ref> [[Maryland]] (illegal since October 1, 2002),<ref>[https://www.animallaw.info/statute/md-cruelty-consolidated-cruelty-statutes#s3_322 § 3-322. Unnatural or perverted sexual practice ]</ref><ref>[http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?ys=2002rs/billfile/HB0011.htm 2002 Regular Session HOUSE BILL 11 ]</ref> [[South Dakota]] (illegal since July 1, 2003),<ref name="animallaw1">[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stussdst40_1_2_1_2_6.htm#s22_22_42 § 22-22-42. Bestiality--Acts constituting--Commission a felony]</ref><ref>[http://legis.sd.gov/sessions/2003/1061.htm House Bill 1061 ]</ref><ref>[https://www.statescape.com/resources/Effective_dates/effective_dates.aspx Effective Dates for Legislation ]</ref> [[France]] (illegal since March 10, 2004),<ref>[French Penal Code - Chapter one: Serious abuse or acts of cruelty animals. - Article 521-1]</ref> [[Washington (US state)|Washington]] (illegal since June 7, 2006),<ref>[http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2005&bill=6417 SB 6417 - 2005-06 ]</ref><ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stuswast16_52_010_305.htm#s205 16.52.205. Animal cruelty in the first degree]</ref> [[Arizona]] (illegal since September 21, 2006),<ref>[http://www.azleg.gov/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=SB1160&Session_ID=83 SB1160 community facilities districts; financing (NOW: animal welfare; rescue; bestiality) ]</ref><ref>[http://www.azleg.gov/GeneralEffectiveDates.asp General Effective Dates ]</ref><ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusazst13_2910.htm#s1411 § 13-1411. Bestiality; classification; definition ]</ref> [[Belgium]] (illegal since May 11, 2007),<ref>[http://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/la-zoophilie-interdite-51b7c174e4b0de6db98c0a46 La zoophilie interdite ]</ref><ref>[http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/Doc/XrefViewPDF.asp?FileID=13173&Language=EN Violent and extreme pornography ]</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Moniteur Belge / Belgisch Staatsblad |title=Lois, Decrets, Ordonnances Et Reglements / Wetten, Decreten, Ordonnanties En Verordeningen |pages=38259–38260 |date=13 July 2007 |accessdate=13 July 2014}} {{fr icon}}/{{nl icon}}</ref> [[Colorado]] (illegal since July 1, 2007),<ref>[http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/Clics2013A/csl.nsf/MainBills?openFrameset Summarized History for Bill Number HB07-1235 ]</ref><ref>[http://tornado.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/olls/digest2007a/CRIMINALLAWANDPROCEDURE.htm#07-1235 H.B. 07-1235 Cruelty to animals - impounded and forfeited animals - euthanasia - dangerous dogs - property damage - sexual act with animal - injured animals - euthanasia - domestic violence - violation of court order protecting animals - aggravated animal cruelty offenders - genetic testing. ]</ref><ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stuscost18_9_201.htm#s202 § 18-9-202. Cruelty to animals--aggravated cruelty to animals--cruelty to a service animal--restitution]</ref> [[Indiana]] (illegal since July 1, 2007),<ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusinst35_46_3_1_13.htm#s14 35-46-3-14 Bestiality]</ref><ref>[http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo?year=2007&request=getActions&doctype=HB&docno=1387 Action List: House Bill 1387 ]</ref> [[Tennessee]] (illegal since July 1, 2007),<ref>[http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0487&GA=105 *SB 0487 by *Finney R. ( HB 0953 by *Maggart) ]</ref><ref>[http://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/2010/title-39/chapter-14/part-2/39-14-214/ 39-14-214. Criminal offenses against animals.]</ref> [[Netherlands]] (illegal since 2010),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0001854/TweedeBoek/TitelXIV/Artikel254a/geldigheidsdatum_24-12-2012 |title=wetten.nl - Wet- en regelgeving - Wetboek van Strafrecht - BWBR0001854 |language=nl|publisher=Wetten.overheid.nl |date=2012-12-24 |accessdate=2013-10-13}}</ref> [[Norway]] (illegal since January 1, 2010),<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.regjeringen.no/en/archive/Stoltenbergs-2nd-Government/Ministry-of-Agriculture-and-Food/Nyheter-og-pressemeldinger/nyheter/2009/new-animal-welfare-act-.html?id=562543 |title=New Animal Welfare Act |work=regjeringen.no |date=15 May 2009 |accessdate=13 July 2014}}</ref> [[Alaska]] (illegal since September 13, 2010),<ref>[http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusakst03_55_100.htm#s140 Sec. 11.61.140 Cruelty to animals. ]</ref><ref>[http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_bill.asp?bill=HB%20%20%206&session=26 ]</ref> [[Australian Capital Territory]] (illegal since 2011),<ref name="ACT">{{cite web |url= http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/b/db_40369/20101209-46298/pdf/db_40369.pdf |title=Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 |work=Australian Capital Territory Legislation Register |year=2010 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref> [[Florida]] (illegal since October 1, 2011),<ref>[http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=44953 SB 344 - Animal Cruelty ]</ref><ref>[http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=44966 CS/HB 125 - Animal Cruelty ]</ref><ref>[http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0800-0899/0828/Sections/0828.126.html 828.126 Sexual activities involving animals.— ]</ref> [[Germany]] (illegal since 2013),<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/world/europe/german-legislators-vote-to-outlaw-bestiality.html?_r=0 |title=German Legislators Vote to Outlaw Bestiality |first=Chris |last=Cottrell |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 1, 2013 |publisher=[[New York Times Company|NYTC]] |location=[[New York, NY|New York]] |issn=0362-4331 |accessdate=July 13, 2014}}</ref> and [[Sweden]] (illegal since January 1, 2014).<ref>[http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/352387 Sweden set to ban bestiality in 2014 ]</ref>

When Germany passed a law banning zoophilia in 2013, the zoophile community protested and filed a suit against the government saying the law violated their rights. A few months later, ZETA, a German zoophile-rights group, put together a peaceful protest/march that would make its way through the street of Berlin. The group used the march to highlight the persecution that zoophiles face every day.<ref>[http://www.webpronews.com/zoophiles-march-on-berlin-to-demand-equal-rights-2013-02 Zoophiles March On Berlin To Demand Equal Rights ]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Humanzee]]
* [[Anthrozoology]]
* [[History of sex]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* Marie-Christine Anest: ''Zoophilie, homosexualite, rites de passage et initiation masculine dans la Greece contemporaine'' (Zoophilia, homosexuality, rites of passage and male initiation in contemporary Greece)'' (1994), ISBN 2-7384-2146-6
* Dubois-Dessaule: ''Etude Sur la Bestiality au point de Vue Historique (The Study of Bestiality from the Historical, Medical and Legal Viewpoint)'' (Paris, 1905)
* Gaston Dubois-Desaulle: ''Bestiality: An Historical, Medical, Legal, and Literary Study'', University Press of the Pacific (November 1, 2003), ISBN 1-4102-0947-4 (Paperback Ed.)
* Hans Hentig Ph.D.: ''Soziologie der Zoophilen Neigung (Sociology of the Zoophile Preference)'' (1962)
* Bronisław Malinowski: ''The Trobriand Islands'' (1915) ''The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia'' (1929)
* Robson, ''Bestiality and Bestial Rape in Greek Myth'', 1997, S. Deacy and K. F. Pearce (edd.), Rape in Antiquity, Duckworth, 65-96
* Voget, F. W. (1961) Sex life of the American Indians, in Ellis, A. & Abarbanel, A. (Eds.) The Encyclopaedia of Sexual Behavior, Volume 1. London: W. Heinemann, p90-109
*Holy Scriptures-Ezekiel 23:28
{{zoophilia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Historical And Cultural Perspectives On Zoophilia}}
[[Category:Zoophilia]]
[[Category:Zoophilia in culture]]