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Call for lawmakers to outlaw sex with animals in Ohio
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Attorneys, humane society agents and a Virginia police officer joined the chorus of proponents calling for lawmakers to outlaw sexual relations with animals in the state.
“With more states joining in passing laws prohibiting sexual abuse of animals, zoophiles will seek places where they can engage in this conduct without repercussion,” Jeremy Hoffman, a detective at the Fairfax County (Va.) Police Department, told the Ohio Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee this week.
“I am most certain that the people of Ohio do not want their state to become the preferred place for animal sex offenders to live.”
Hoffman joined others in testifying in support of SB 195, which would prohibit people from engaging in sexual relations with animals or providing animals for others’ sexual conduct.
The legislation includes provisions for criminal charges against perpetrators, the seizure of animals that have been abused and court-ordered psychological evaluations and counseling for offenders.
An analysis by the state’s Legislative Service Commission determined that sexual abuse of animals falls outside of Ohio’s existing animal cruelty laws.
Anti-bestiality bills have been introduced in recent general assemblies to address the loophole.
“The current law is wholly inadequate to address this growing threat,” Sandra Horvath, chairwoman of the animal law committee of the state bar association, said in testimony to the Senate panel.
“Currently, Ohio has no bestiality laws aside from a minuscule mention under the definition of ‘obscene’ [in Ohio Revised Code]. This leaves courts unable to effectively punish sexual abuse to animals where there is no ‘apparent’ injury.”
Hoffman told lawmakers that he has been investigating bestiality crimes in his home state for several years, resulting in 20 arrests since 2011. A number of those offenders, he said, had abused children or committed sex offenses against adults.
“I realized that much like those in our society who choose to abuse children, those who sexually abuse animals lack any semblance of a moral compass,” he said. “They lack any sense of sexual boundaries.”
Vicki Deisner, Midwest legislative director for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, agreed.
“Bestiality is, at its core, an antisocial psychological problem, and it is a form of animal abuse regardless of the human perpetrators’ beliefs or intentions,” she said.
“Bestiality is more than a cultural taboo – it is a serious offense that exploits the animals physically and psychologically, oftentimes killing them, and is closely tied to violence and sexual abuse toward humans.”
Ohio is one of 11 states that do not directly prohibit bestiality, Deisner said.