Gonzo Animal Welfare
I subscribe to a number of spoof websites (No…! Surely not!) and I honestly thought I had opened the wrong URL instead of the BBC address I use as my wake-up home page. This was due to a story I encountered filed by a Beeb reporter Animal Welfare: Germany Moves to Ban Bestiality. Then, I thought I ought to do a quick dictionary check to ensure I really knew the correct definition of the word bestiality. But there it was in the opening par…
“Germany’s ruling coalition is calling for a ban on bestiality – or the practice of having sex with animals.”
Then I had to double check I had processed those opening lines correctly. Yup… for a ban to have been mooted it was logical to infer there had been no such restriction previously. The news item then goes on helpfully to report that the legalization of bestiality in Germany came about only as late as 1969 – with the caveat that the animals [involved] should suffer no “significant harm”.
Now I bow to nobody in my affection for the German nation, (I would happily move to Munich tomorrow) and while we were all vaguely aware of people having gone nuts in the ’60s this news worried me.
Happily, a level-headed parliamentarian called Hans-Michael reportedly had called for clarification of 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 (£20,000) is proposed if someone forces an animal to commit “actions alien to the species”.’ (Does this mean a curry, a late night movie and maybe a promise to come over and introduce the mule to Mum next weekend?)
But then, up jumped the chairman of the pressure group Zoophile Engagement for Tolerance and Information, saying 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. He continued: ‘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.’
As if the (admirably) clinical reporting of such activities weren’t unsettling enough, the current status quo seems to be that as long as the animals are okay, that’s the main thing.
It isn’t even April 1st…
