Erotic zoos are on the rise in Germany— animal brothels where people can visit to perform sexual acts with animals ranging from goats to llamas. You heard right, this actually exists. No bestiality laws have been in effect since it was dropped off the state books as a crime in 1969 in the country. However, it became clear recently that laws banning animal cruelty weren’t specific enough to include bestiality, or zoophilia. Animal-rights activists have been putting pressure on the government to reverse the outdated decision to legalize zoophilia. They want the law to recognize bestiality as animal rape and defilement. They even went as far as to use intense photos of animals being cruelly abused for sexual pleasure to get their point across.
The new ban would make it illegal for people to use animals for their own sexual use, for pimping the animals out to third parties, and for training animals for human sex. A vote is expected in December, and the acts would be punishable by fines. The country’s Agricultural committee is pledging first-offense fines of approximately US $32,000. It’s a seemingly popular practice in the area, with thousands of Germans exchanging information related to sex with animals online, which has led to farmers renting out their animals for sexual acts. A group called the Zoophile Engagement for Tolerance and Information (ZETA) is pro-bestiality and has promised to fight any ban on the practice, stating that morality shouldn’t be involved in law making. Zoophiles argue that they treat animals as equal to humans and would never force lewd acts against the animals’ wills. Chairman of the group, Michael Kiok, has even stated that animals are simpler to understand than human women and are thus quite capable of showing humans what they want to do, and what they don’t want to do. Yes, someone actually said that.
Surprisingly (at least to me), zoophilia is still legal in many areas, such as Cambodia, Brazil, Finland, Hungary, and Sweden, while other countries still have unclear laws regarding the practice.