Between all the Swine Flu coverage, I caught the welcome news that Florida has officially outlawed beastiality. Despite facing a $3 billion budget deficit, the Florida Senate united yesterday to tackle the issue head-on to vote Senator Nan Rich's bill (SB 448) into unanimous reality. It is now a third degree felony in the Sunshine State to have sex with an animal, punishable by up to five years in prison. Looks like the alligators and otters can rest a bit easier.

“People mostly don’t want to discuss it. I watch my colleagues. They kind of look down when the bill is being presented. We should be adults here. It’s something that happens and it needs to be discussed and we need to fix the problem. It makes people uncomfortable, but that’s never stopped me.”

--Florida Senator Nan Rich, D-Weston

Rich, a child's rights advocate, said that those who abuse animals (sexually and otherwise) are likely to do the same to kids and the National Humane Society vehemently backs that up. Fact is, sexual abuse of animals often happens concurrently with sexual assaults on people. The NHS website cites numerous studies and statistics illustrating this disturbing connection, including this one:

"Of juveniles who engage in sex with animals, 96 percent also admit to sex offenses against humans and reported more offenses against humans than other sex offenders their same age and race."

--Fleming, William M., Jory, Brian and Burton, David L. (2002). Characteristics of Juvenile Offenders Admitting to Sexual Activity with Nonhuman Animals. Society and Animals

Florida's bill was precipitated by the sex assault-related strangulation of a goat in Mossy Head. (The incident became such a circus, T-shirts began appearing with slogans like "Baa Means No!") Other disgusting examples have recently surfaced, including one involving an un-lucky seeing-eye dog named Lucky. Evidently, a similar bill in the House "has not been debated on the floor." I'm trying to picture how a 'debate' would even go down ... and I got nothing.

All this crazy business got me curious about where and when humans have drawn legal boundaries around zoophilia. (Zoophilia can refer to sexual activity with animals [bestiality], the desire to do so, or to the paraphilia of the same name which requires a definite preference for animals over humans as sexual partners.)

Turns out, it is perfectly legal in Sweden and Denmark though not in Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. In Great Britain, only certain acts are illegal. Other countries, such as Belgium, Germany, and Russia, fall somewhere in between, allowing sexual activity with animals while prohibiting the promotion of animal-oriented pornography.

Meanwhile, in Lebanon, men are legally allowed to have sex with animals, but the animals must be female; having sexual relations with a male animal is punishable by death.

As for the U.S., Florida was one of 16 states without a law banning beastiality. One of those states, Alaska, is now considering following Florida in suit. State Representative Bob Lynn, an Anchorage Republican, wants to ban bestiality by expanding the state's animal cruelty law to include sexual conduct. His bill would make the offence a class A misdemeanor that's punishable by up to a year in jail and a US$10,000 fine.

Wow. Kind of an eye opener, eh? Somewhere rifling around in all this muck, I also re-learned the factoid that humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. (Trying to picture dolphins getting down, I just keep hearing Disney music.) I also clicked on a few YouTube links that I wish I hadn't - gone for good are the last remaining shreds of my innocence.  

Reader comments on the new Florida law touch on every topic from sexual and religious freedoms to taking on the POV of the animals. Some choice reader comments from the Miami Herald:

"I always thought it strange that it was ok to murder a sheep and eat it but if you made love to it they put (you) in jail."

"What do you expect in a state where it is illegal to let your dog ride in the back of a pick up? But perfectly legal to let your day laborers ride back there."

"If this passes, my ex-wife will never get laid again."

"How does anyone know this is animal 'abuse'? Have they complained?"

"This is an issue that should have been law long ago. Yes, the legislature has plenty to do, but this is way past due. This is a no brainer and should take them no time (or money) and next time some creep violates the rights of any dog, horse, goat, whatever for goodness sake - they will pay a penalty. You all don't care because these animals cannot speak for themselves. Thank goodness people like in this article can speak for them!!"

Meanwhile, in the blogosphere ...

Half Ninja states the obvious in her hilariously-titled post, "In 2009, Florida finally does something about pig fucking":

"I don’t disagree with the law, I think it’s a good one. I disagree with the timing. How could it take the Florida Senate THIS LONG to figure out that sex with animals was a bad idea? Were there people in the streets pounding away on porcupines and walruses unable to be stopped?"

Moments in Time has some great media excerpts on this issue and a heap o'stats:

"The FBI has records saying the same thing. Their research shows that serial sexual homicide perpetrators that uncovered high rates of sexual assault of animals. It gets worse, twenty percent of children who sexually abuse other children also have histories of sexually abusing animals according to a report in the Journal of Forensic Psychiatry."

Over at the Sex Crimes blog ("a blog devoted to the criminal laws regulating and punishing sexual violence") there is an aspect of this issue up for debate:

"I have to admit I was surprised to learn the number of states that had not already criminalized bestiality. I fully support these proposed laws. However, I'm baffled by the assertion of the district attorney that had a small child have been available, the perpetrator would have raped the child instead. Is there any evidence that those that commit acts of bestiality are more likely to molest children? And if so, is there really any reason to think the populations are substitutable? Clearly, both acts are wrong, but I think bestiality should be made illegal solely on the basis of the harm caused to animals. Adding unproven fears of child molestation to the equation is unnecessary alarmism."

Report Animal Abuse.