http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002384648_farm16m.html
Videotapes show bestiality, Enumclaw police say
By Jennifer Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter
seized from a rural Enumclaw-area farm that police say is frequented by
men who engage in sex acts with animals.
The videotapes police have viewed thus far depict men having sex with
horses, including one that shows a Seattle man shortly before he died
July 2, said Enumclaw police Cmdr. Eric Sortland. Police are reviewing
the tapes to make sure no laws have been broken.
"Activities like these are often collateral sexual crimes beyond the
animal aspect," said Sortland, adding that investigators want to make
sure crimes such as child abuse or forcible rape were not occurring on
the property.
Washington is one of 17 states that does not outlaw bestiality. Police
are also investigating the farm and the two men who live on the property
forcing sex on smaller, weaker animals. Investigators said that in
addition to horses, they have found chickens, goats and sheep on the
40-acre property northwest of Enumclaw.
Officers talked with the two men, but neither has been arrested. Neither
man could be reached yesterday for comment.
According to King County sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart, the farm is
known in Internet chat rooms as a destination for people who want to have
sex with livestock.
However, authorities didn't learn about the farm until a man drove up to
Enumclaw Community Hospital on July 2 seeking medical assistance for a
companion. Medics wheeled the man into an examination room before
realizing he was dead. When hospital workers looked for the driver, he
was gone.
Using the dead man's driver's license to track down relatives and
acquaintances, authorities were led to the Enumclaw farm. Some earlier
reports had said hospital-surveillance cameras were used to track down
the driver.
The dead man was identified as a 45-year-old Seattle resident. According
to the King County Medical Examiner's Office, he died of acute
peritonitis due to perforation of the colon. The man's death is not being
investigated because it did not result from a crime, Urquhart said.
The Seattle man's relatives said yesterday they never suspected he was
involved in bestiality. They said they were surprised when they learned
he had purchased a Thoroughbred stallion earlier this year. The man told
his relatives he boarded the animal with some friends in Enumclaw.
While the man's relatives were unsure how many horses he had boarded at
the property, one Enumclaw neighbor said the Seattle man was keeping two
stallions there.
Police and neighbors said the people renting the property have also had
dogs and bull calves on the farm. Yesterday there were several horses and
ponies grazing near a barn.
Two neighbors, a married couple who declined to allow use of their names,
said yesterday they had no idea what had been going on at the farm. They
said they've known one of the men who live on the farm for years.
On Thursday, police showed the couple videotape seized from the farm
showing men having sex with horses. The couple identified one of the
horses as belonging to them, Sortland said. The couple also said it
appeared at least part of the tape was filmed in their barn, which left
them shocked and angry.
"We couldn't believe what we were seeing," said Sortland. "In the rare,
rare case this happens, it's the person doing the animal. I think that
has led to the astonishment of all of the entities involved."
Thursday night, in reaction to the man's death, Susan Michaels,
co-founder of Pasado's Safe Haven, posted a letter on the local
animal-rights organization's Web site calling for people to e-mail
legislators in an attempt to change state laws.
"This [the death] gives us credence of getting a bestiality law passed,"
said Michaels. "It's not natural for animals to do this."
State Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, said she plans to draft legislation as
early as next week making bestiality illegal in Washington.
"This is just disgusting," Roach said yesterday. "It's against the law to
harm children; it should be against the law to violate an animal."
--
Islam is a peaceful religion, just as long as the women are beaten, the
boys buggered and the infidels are killed.
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