That got your attention didn't it.
You can just skim through the bold face print.
All non bold face face print is just citing and sourcing.

zoophilia - Definition from Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary
"
Main Entry: zoo·phil·ia
Pronunciation: secondarystresszomacr-schwa-primarystressfil-emacron-schwa
Function: noun
: an erotic fixation on animals that may result in sexual excitement through real or fancied contact
"

In today's society the act of a human engaging in sexual activity with animal other than human is often illegal and looked down upon.

Sometimes this illegality is explained by animal abuse laws.

Other times it is just explained by it simply being "immoral".

Throughout history the practice of sex with sex with animals has been accepted as normal.

"It has been a subject for artists since prehistoric times. A cave painting dating from at least 8000 BC was discovered in the Camonica Valley in Northern Italy depicting a man complete with full erection standing behind a female deer. The viewer is left in no doubt that he intends to have sex with her."

"Herodotus mentions the goats of the Egyptian temple at mendes which were specially trained for copulating with human beings.

Much ancient literature speaks of sex with animals. It was known to the Ancient Greeks, the Romans, and although relatively few of the Ancient Egyptian writings have survived, one 3200 year old papyrus shows that it was well known to them."

There are many other examples of this type of activity being completely acceptable or even encouraged, I will not bother to post them all. It should be seen that for many past society's, sex with animals was normal and part of their culture.

In the middle ages this kind of activity had begun to become condemned by the church.

"In 1468, Jean Beisse, accused of bestiality with a cow on one occasion and a goat on another, was first hanged, then burned. The animals involved were also burned. In 1539, Guillaume Garnier, charged with intercourse with a female dog (described as "sodomy"), was ordered strangled after he confessed under torture. The dog was burned, along with the trial records which were "too horrible and potentially dangerous to be permitted to exist" (Masters). In 1601, Claudine de Culam, a young girl of sixteen, was convicted of copulating with a dog. Both the girl and the dog were first hanged, then strangled, and finally burned. In 1735, Francois Borniche was charged with sexual intercourse with animals. It was greatly feared that "his infamous debauches may corrupt the young men." He was imprisoned. There is no record of his release."


It was even sometimes used as punishment.

"A well known woodcut dating back to the Later Han dynasty (25-220AD) depicts "Punishment by Horse Cock". This execution method was reserved for unfaithful concubines and wives of the Emperor. Overseen by Eunuchs, who were responsible for all palace punishments, the stallion I encouraged to mount and the "executioner" guides his lubricated member into the victims vagina. Without any restriction being placed upon his passions the long powerful thrusts of the beast ensure instant agony followed by a long and painful death from internal injuries. Hopefully this prospect encouraged faithfulness as the suffering involved can hardly be overstated."


Even today some cultures embrace this kind of activity.

"Today in Toba, Japan is a "Sex Museum" where animals form an important part of the displays. When it was founded, in order to overcome the Japanese taboo against the display of explicit human sexual intercourse, most of the exhibits were life sized depictions of animals mating. A cow and Bull frozen in a passionate embrace greet the visitor. All around eerily lifeless beasts all at the point of climax stand rigid, horses, zebras, deer, apes, every large mammal you can think of."

"In Amsterdam very prominently placed on the main thoroughfare from Central Station to the Dam Square is also a Sex Museum. This particular establishment cannot compare with Toba for size but it makes up for this with the quality of its exhibits. It has probably the first commercial bestiality publication of the modern era. A special edition of "Candy" dating from the early 70’s.

Many fine drawings, miniatures, and sculptures which are relevant to this book can be seen, including a (rather poor) copy of the famous Pompeii goat and satyr. In another room are poster sized pictures from modern hard core bestiality films. For us perhaps the most valuable exhibit is a sword which was presented to a former King of Belgium. The hilt is an exquisitely carved scene in Ivory of a Man with full erection pursuing a rather angry looking wild sow. It adds a whole new meaning to having a days pig sticking!"

"Among the Maasai, it was customary for older boys to have sexual relations with she-asses. Young Riffian boys (a Morrocan tribe) also had sexual liaisons with female asses (Ford and Beach, 1951, pp. 147-148). Among the Tswana of Africa, boys assigned to the care of cattle frequently engaged in zoosexual activity. It was also common in the Gusti tribes and considered rather harmless, but boys were reprimanded and warned against this activity. The fishermen of the East African coast "from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean" are said to have had regular coitus with female dugong carcasses."


"In some countries, notably the Netherlands, Denmark, Mexico, and Thailand, live sex shows between women and symbolically stud-like animals (pony, donkey, large dog) took place up until recently. They probably do continue albeit less visibly and fewer.


Some culture do not punish this behavior while it is still looked down upon.

"A well known woodcut dating back to the Later Han dynasty (25-220AD) depicts "Punishment by Horse Cock". This execution method was reserved for unfaithful concubines and wives of the Emperor. Overseen by Eunuchs, who were responsible for all palace punishments, the stallion I encouraged to mount and the "executioner" guides his lubricated member into the victims vagina. Without any restriction being placed upon his passions the long powerful thrusts of the beast ensure instant agony followed by a long and painful death from internal injuries. Hopefully this prospect encouraged faithfulness as the suffering involved can hardly be overstated."

Historical and cultural perspectives on zoophilia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bestiality History

There are many other links that come off of the wiki one. Look at them if you wish.
Be warned I did not check all the site, some may have explicit images.


There is much history to this subject.[/b]

Yet today is is punishable by law.

First I want to say how does this fall into animal abuse.

How does putting chemicals and slaughtering them to eat not fall under abuse when a natural animal function does.

This is a legal definition for animal abuse:

"cruelty to animals n. the crime of inflicting physical pain, suffering or death on an animal, usually a tame one, beyond necessity for normal discipline. It can include neglect that is so monstrous (withholding food and water) that the animal has suffered, died or been put in imminent danger of death."
Animal abuse legal definition of Animal abuse. Animal abuse synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary.

To me this does not seem to fall under animal abuse.

The second argument is morality.

In which case, yes this may be immoral to many, but why are we dictating our morals if it is not animal abuse or interfering with our liberties.

I do not think such activity is moral. I think it is gross. I feel the same way about almost all fetishes and homosexuality. I am very conservative about it. But, my morals are not the same as everyone else's and I have no right to stop them from doing what I may thing is "wrong".

So, the question is why do why have this law if we are not just dictating what we think others should do? It does not affect our liberties do we think we should make it illegal because the majority of us may think it is gross.

How often does this happen? How many people participate in this.

"Kinsey & Pomeroy's 1948 study of male sexual behavior found that 8% of the total U.S. male population admitted to having had sexual contact with animals."

"The extent to which zoophilia occurs is not known with any certainty, largely because feelings which may not have been acted upon can be difficult to quantify, lack of clear divide between non-sexual zoophilia and everyday pet care, and reluctance by most zoophiles to disclose their feelings due to fear of both social and legal persecution. Instead most research into zoophilia has focused on its characteristics, rather than quantifying it."

"Scientific surveys estimating the frequency of zoosexual activity, as well as anecdotal evidence and informal surveys, suggest that more than 1–2% — and perhaps as many as 8–40% — of sexually active adults have had significant sexual experience with an animal at some point in their lives. Studies suggest that a larger number (perhaps 10–30% depending on area) have fantasized or had some form of brief encounter. Larger figures such as 40–60% for rural teenagers (living on or near livestock farms) have been cited from some earlier surveys such as the Kinsey reports, but some later writers consider these uncertain. Anecdotally, Nancy Friday's 1973 book on female sexuality My Secret Garden comprised around 190 women's contributions; of these, some 8% volunteered a serious interest or active participation in zoosexual activity."

"internet survey of sexuality run by the internet survey site survey.net obtained 76,500 responses between October 2000 and December 2006. Responses to the non-specifically worded question "What sexual aspects are you into?" with options "curious/mild/heavy" included: Bestiality-curious 8671 (11.3%); Bestiality-mild 4582 (6.0%); Bestiality-heavy 3133 (4.1%). The respondents by age and gender were 67% male / 31% female; 12.1% age under 18 / 55.0% age 18-30 / 32.9% age over 31.[7] A second internet survey on an entertainment website of around 6000 respondents which asked "Have you ever had sex with an animal" amongst several other unusual sexual acts, gave a result of 742 (13%) "sometimes" and 95 (2%) "frequently", with 1% preferring not to say.[8] However, although open surveys with large response rates such as these may be suggestive, it is rarely clear how representative such surveys may be."

"Not all people live near animals. Urban dwellers, who usually lack contact with animals, were estimated by Kinsey (1948) to have only one zoosexual contact for every 30 of the average rural dweller. By 1974, the farm population in the USA had reduced by 80% compared to 1940, causing a greatly reduced opportunity for living with animals; Hunt's 1974 study suggests that the demographic changes affecting this one group led to a significant change in overall reported occurrence."

__________________
May your paradise always be green, you liberties always be full, and may the ignorance of you enemies not drive you to be pro-nuke.

"We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself
into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and
trying to lift himself up by the handle."-Winston Churchill

Interesting topic.

One of the things that really surprised me was the Babylonian Law Code. It is of course one of the oldest and best preserved 'law codes' that we have.
I've read it through entirely (English translation) and one of the things that really surprised me was the number of laws and the details given about the various specified penalties for having various different sex acts with various different animals (there was a whole structure of graduated fines for this). There seems to have been far more laws about sex with animals than laws involving sex with people. That surprised me.

They wouldn't have been making those laws if they didn't have a good need for them...

Like I said, I found it rather surprising - and enlightening. Humans are too disgusting sometimes to be even called pigs. Pigs don't fornicate with baby piglets or with chickens, goats, cows or sheep.

Personally, I think it's gross. But if that's your thing, well, as long as you aren't harming the animal...

__________________
An' it harm none, do as ye' will.


Never argue with an idiot. He'll just drag you down to his level of intelligence and beat you with experience.

That last part is not really true. There are many accounts of animals mating with different species.
The mating game: ligers, zorses, wholphins, and other hybrid animals raise a beastly science question: what is a species? - Free Online Library
That is where hybrids come from. Other do mate, but there offspring is not viable.

I agree that it is an interesting topic. I thought I would look into it with all the talk about it going on in different threads. I would think that the Babylonian Law Code in that instance was based on morals.

__________________
May your paradise always be green, you liberties always be full, and may the ignorance of you enemies not drive you to be pro-nuke.

"We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself
into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and
trying to lift himself up by the handle."-Winston Churchill

My thoughts exactly.

__________________
May your paradise always be green, you liberties always be full, and may the ignorance of you enemies not drive you to be pro-nuke.

"We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself
into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and
trying to lift himself up by the handle."-Winston Churchill

The context of the laws and the particular fine structure suggests otherwise.

In almost every respect, the Babylonian Law Code was quite rational and practical. Those are not normally characteristics one associates with morality-driven law. Certainly there are some elements of this evidenced, but it seems to be overall, a very rational and practical law code.

What is the practical reasoning then? I can not see it. I am not all that familiar with the Code, but if it was perfectly rational what is the rational explanation?

__________________
May your paradise always be green, you liberties always be full, and may the ignorance of you enemies not drive you to be pro-nuke.

"We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself
into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and
trying to lift himself up by the handle."-Winston Churchill

I would have thought that a thread like this would be generating more controversy. People get all riled up about gays and morality, naturalness, and legality, but seem to be skipping this subject. Maybe I made that first post too much reading.

__________________
May your paradise always be green, you liberties always be full, and may the ignorance of you enemies not drive you to be pro-nuke.

"We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself
into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and
trying to lift himself up by the handle."-Winston Churchill

Discussed as a subject, zoofie is a curious concept. And one reason people don't like/want to talk about it is that when you REALLY look at it, there's no real reason other than morality to denigrate it. THAT's why it garners soo much hostility in that other forum. When you leave out consent and legal, which really never apply to animals in any other case, there's nothing really left. And we know how certain people hate for people to use their morals to "judge" them.
And for those that thinks this is a fringe thought.....
Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice William Rehnquist dissented. Scalia argued that this ruling would invalidate laws prohibiting bigamy, same-sex marriage, prostitution, masturbation, adultury, fornication, beastiality, and obscenity.

So you really don't get much talk about zoophilia or pedo as a subject of rational subjective discussion because people are afraid they might actually not all be crazy monsters.

It seems that may be the case.

__________________
May your paradise always be green, you liberties always be full, and may the ignorance of you enemies not drive you to be pro-nuke.

"We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself
into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and
trying to lift himself up by the handle."-Winston Churchill