Animal Welfare: Germany Moves to Ban Bestiality

Minister of Agriculture Ilse Aigner

Germany's ruling coalition is calling for a ban on bestiality - or the practice of having sex with animals.

The German parliament's agriculture committee is considering making it an offence not only to hurt an animal but also to force it into unnatural sex. Offenders could face a hefty fine.

A final vote will be held in the Bundestag (lower house) on 14 December.

Germany legalised bestiality (zoophilia) in 1969, except when the animal suffered "significant harm".

But animal rights groups have campaigned for a change in the law and Hans-Michael Goldmann, the head of the parliamentary committee investigating the new amendment, told the Tageszeitung newspaper that the new legislation was intended to clarify the current legal position.

"With this explicit ban, it will be easier to impose penalties and to improve animal protection."

A fine of up to 25,000 euros (£20,000) is proposed if someone forces an animal to commit "actions alien to the species."

But Germany's animal lovers aren't taking it lightly as Michael Kiok, chairman of zoophile pressure group, Zoophile Engagement for Tolerance and Information (ZETA) in an interview with Spiegel Magazine (Mirror Magazine) insisted that sex with animals is not demeaning to them. And swore he was going to take legal action to fight the proposed changes.

"It is unthinkable that any sexual act with an animal is punished without proof that the animal has come to any harm," he said, adding that animals are capable of showing what they do, or do not, want to do.

"We see animals as partners and not as a means of gratification. We don't force them to do anything. Animals are much easier to understand than women," Mr Kiok claimed.

The fact that an organisation like Zeta exists and the fact the the so called President of the organisation could speak boldly about such organisation goes a long way that sexual abuse of animals is wide spread than we thought and alarming.

 

My Take on this

The fact that Germany legislators are planning to ban this uncanny sexual behaviour and the fact there is an organisation like Zeta reflects the recent increase on sexual abuse of animals in Germany.    

Bestiality is banned in many European countries, including the Netherlands, France and Switzerland.

 

The law was changed in the UK in 2003, which reduced the maximum sentence from life imprisonment to two years.

The act however, is permissible in Belgium, Denmark and Sweden, though Stockholm is considering a change in the legislation.

 

The Holy Bible provides death sentence for bestiality. “ And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the

woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them (leviticus 20:15-16).

What do you think?