By: Michaela Paukner, [email protected]//October 18, 2019//
By: Michaela Paukner, [email protected]//October 18, 2019//
Wisconsin lawmakers and animal-rights activists spoke out in support of a bill to make bestiality a felony. Speakers at the public hearing on Thursday cited possible reasons why people might engage such behavior, blaming a cultural phenomenon and the occult.
The Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety met Thursday for an executive session and a public hearing. The hearing included discussion about a proposed bill to make having or promoting sexual contact with an animal a felony. The crime is currently a misdemeanor.
Lawmakers and animal rights leaders who testified at the public hearing cited recent incidents of animal abuse around the state. Sen. André Jacque, R-De Pere, a sponsor of the bill, said horse owners he’s talked to are concerned.
“When they find out someone is on the loose in the area, they sleep in the barn with a gun,” said Jacque.
Eilene Ribbens, board member of the Wisconsin Federated Humane Societies, said a 2016 survey documented in one month more than 1,000 Wisconsin Craigslist ads soliciting sexual contact with animals. Ribbens said studies show one-third of animal abusers also abuse children.
“It’s a cultural phenomenon that is abhorrent, disgusting and frightening,” said Ribbins.
She and Megan Nicholson, Wisconsin state director of the Humane Society of the United States, said this bill is an opportunity to change current legal loopholes and right wrongs.
“This is a bigger problem that we want to admit,” said Nicholson.
Rep. Chuck Wichgers, R-Muskego, said he’s talked to psychiatrists who say animal abuse stemming from the days of Jeffrey Dahmer and the occult has become more prevalent in the past five years.
“The occult is alive and well in Wisconsin,” said Wichgers. “As that membership grows, so do these types of crimes.”
The bill’s counterpart passed the Senate’s committee on judiciary and public safety unanimously in September.
The assembly committee also heard public testimony about a bill of rights for sexual assault victims and a proposal to increase the time prosecutors have to bring charges in OWI cases.
At the executive session preceding the public hearing, the committee voted 11-2 in favor of an amended bill that would make causing bodily harm to a nurse a felony. The committee also voted in favor of proposals to make battery or threats against probation and parole agents and their families a felony, allowing transportation of pepper sprays and CS gels used for self-defense, and adding penalties for money laundering. Follow @WLJReporter