Beastiality should be illegal in the state of Florida
- by: Carolyn Mullin, No More Homeless Animals
- recipient: Bill Nelson, Senator, United States Senate
Alan Yoder, 29, originally was charged
with felony animal cruelty, but court records show that charge was
dropped last Friday and replaced with a misdemeanor - disorderly
conduct.
Yoder now is charged with a "breach of the peace, by engaging in
sexual activity with a guide dog," according to a court document.
One of two prosecutors on the case, Assistant State Attorney Owen
McCaul, did not return a call Thursday. The other, Assistant State
Attorney Stephanie Usina, said she could not answer specific questions,
including explaining why the charge was lowered to a misdemeanor.
Yoder, reached by telephone Thursday, declined to be interviewed.
James D. Varnado, his attorney, said he has filed a not-guilty plea on
his client's behalf but declined to discuss details of the case.
"However lurid the allegations may be, we should resist a rush to judgment," he said.
Here's what happened, according to Tallahassee police reports:
Yoder, who lives in a local apartment complex, last month asked a
female acquaintance to join him in a sex act with the dog, a male
yellow Labrador named "Lucky."
Investigators spoke to Yoder on June 16, who
admitted performing certain sex acts with the dog, even going into
detail with them, but denied doing others. He was arrested and booked
June 22, charged with animal cruelty.
Annemarie Lucas, a New York-based special
investigator for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, said sexual contact with animals "probably happens more than
it's actually reported."
Bestiality - illegal in New York state - is "just not a natural
thing," she said. "Animals can't consent ... They're probably fearful
and in physical pain. It's like any kind of abuse.
"It's a cowardly act," added Lucas, who also appears on "Animal
Precinct," a program on the Animal Planet cable-television network.
"It's a domination thing, something an animal would never instigate."
Stephanie Shain, spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the United States, said her organization takes a similar position.
"It's doing something to an animal that they have an inability to stop," Shain said.
Last year, an Ocala man pleaded no contest to felony animal cruelty
after being charged with having sex with his then-fiancee's female
Rottweiler, according to the Pet-Abuse.com Web site.
A judge withheld adjudication and ordered five years of probation
and a psychological evaluation. He also prohibited the 27-year-old man
from "owning pets of any kind while on probation and from having
unsupervised contact with other people's pets," the site said. " [SOURCE]
"Bestiality (or zoophilia) is a paraphilia defined as an affinity,
attraction or sexual attraction by a human to non-human animals.
Because this topic deals openly about about the nature of bestiality,
it is intended for mature audiences only.
While moral and clinical descriptions of bestiality differ,
Pet-Abuse.Com takes the position that bestiality is sexual assault of
an animal and is always a crime.
Amazingly, there are still several states in which bestiality is
legal. In those situations where the prosecutors do not have specific
bestiality laws to use in their case, we recommend exploring the
cruelty to animals statues: if it can be proved that the animal was
made to suffer, you can use those laws where the bestiality laws may be
lacking (or missing outright).
The following is reprinted from:
The Animals' Agenda
P.O. Box 25881 Baltimore, MD 21224
(410) 675-4566 www.animalsagenda.org
The term bestiality actually tells us much more about cultural
attitudes toward animals than it does about sex with animals. Concern
about bestiality generally focuses on human beings; thus experts tell
us it is usually harmless while debating its frequency. If we call it
forced sex with animals, we reclaim the animal's perspective as a
central concern. It is more prevalent than we can measure and is not
harmless; it is always animal abuse.
The American Heritage Dictionary, to cite just one example, defines
bestiality as "the quality or condition of being an animal or like an
animal; conduct or an action marked by depravity or brutality; or
sexual relations between a human being and an animal." Sex with an
animal is the last definition of bestiality, while the first two
definitions remind us of our culture's general low regard for animals.
The multiple meanings for bestiality are part of the problem, implying
that bestiality itself is animal behavior. It keeps the "beast" in
bestiality. (See sidebar "Acting Like an Animal.") Animals do not have
a distinction between public versus private.
Often, people read animals' sexuality as shameless (and inviting)
because animals act sexually in "public." They are then viewed as
accessible because they have acted in a public manner." [SOURCE]
We're depending on you, The Honorable Senator Nelson, to help us in having beasiality outlawed in the State of Florida!
Sincerely,
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