Animal lovers rejoice! The Canadian Supreme Court has sanctioned certain forms of bestiality.
It issued, for the first time, a precise legal definition of bestiality Thursday. The legal controversy was occasioned by a tragic sexual abuse case, in which a British Columbia man was convicted of bestiality after he forced his step-daughters to cover their genitalia in peanut butter so their dog could lick it off.
The British Columbia man appealed his conviction to the provincial supreme court, arguing sexual activity with animals is only illegal if it involves penetration. (RELATED: Report: French UN Peacekeepers Forced Girls As Young As Seven To Engage In Bestiality, Oral Sex)
The provincial court agreed with him, and the Canadian Supreme Court affirmed the decision Thursday.
Canada’s legal definition of bestiality is rather amorphous. Before 1859, Canada prosecuted depraved sex offenses under the English Buggery Act, a broad prohibition on sodomy. Thereafter, an anti-buggery law was incorporated into the Consolidated Statutes of Canada as a capital crime. The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1969, championed by Pierre Trudeau, later prime minister and father to current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, repealed the laws.
“Applying the principles that guide statutory interpretation leads to the conclusion in this case that the term bestiality has a well‑established legal meaning and refers to sexual intercourse between a human and an animal. Penetration has always been understood to be an essential element of bestiality,” the opinion read.
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