King County sheriff's detectives are investigating the owners of
an Enumclaw-area farm after a Seattle man died from injuries
sustained while having sex with a horse boarded on the
property.
Investigators first learned of the farm after the man died at
Enumclaw Community Hospital July 2. The county Medical Examiner's
Office ruled that the death was accidental and the result of having
sex with a horse.
A surveillance camera picked up the license plate of the car that
dropped the man off at the hospital, which led detectives to the
farm and other people involved, said sheriff's Sgt. John
Urquhart.
Deputies don't believe a crime occurred because bestiality is not
illegal in Washington state and the horse was uninjured, said
Urquhart.
But because investigators found chickens, goats and sheep on the
property, they are looking into whether animal cruelty which is a
crime was committed by having sex with these smaller, weaker
animals, he said.
The farm was talked about in Internet chat rooms as a destination
for people looking to have sex with livestock, he said.
"A significant number of people, we believe, have likely visited
this farm," said Urquhart.
The Humane Society of the United States intends to use the case
during the next state legislative session as an example of why sex
with animals should be outlawed in Washington, said Bob Reder, a
Humane Society regional director in Seattle.
"This and a few other cases that we have will allow us a platform
to talk about sex abuse of animals," Reder said.
Thirty-three states ban sex with animals, he said.
Susan Michaels, co-founder of local animal-rights organization
Pasado's Safe Haven, said she has been fighting to have bestiality
made illegal. "It's animal cruelty behind closed doors," Michaels
said
