New Telegraph

Man-Animal Sex: When desire, quest for survival override decency

There is an obvious cultural intrusion in Nigeria, mainly from the Western world as epitomized by various manifestations of social perversions such as bestiality, homosexuality and other socio-cultural antithetical infractions to nature. ADEYINKA ADENIJI looks at this development and why the society must seriously frown at it.

The cultural pervasion

The African environment in response to interferences from alien civilizations now wallows in the resultant adverse impacts on the lives of the people and poses a greater danger to the human race. This ineffectuality of the society in letting and indulging its imputed and imported vices that now pervade the land is aptly manifested in untypical palpitating indifference, as lately expressed by the public at the breaking of some of the most sleazy report of evil-serving misdemeanours, especially among youths in the news space. Unlike in the past, where such were greeted with spontaneous commiseration for the ostensibly hopeless condition of the time and space; the most scandalous headlines no longer inspire the usual scary, sorrowful and regretful emotions from the public. Particularly and against the natural order, the word “bizarre” has become one of the most frequently used. A few when occasionally stung by the current ebb of intemperance among youths respond to the now rampant distasteful events by capitulation, as they ask “Lord when?” each time, in bewailing the quantum of corruption that has befallen the society. This section of the public concludes that the unimaginable degree of degeneration in moral values is an inevitable “sign of the end-time” and may perhaps never abate until the second emergence of Jesus Christ. Certain misdemeanours have been proven as peculiar to certain areas and environments. For instance, the menace of homosexuality and bestiality, alien as they are to Africa, are subtly creeping into the civilization, despite resistance through the enactment of laws and statutes by governments and organisations, while individuals caught in these vices continue to advance for different reasons for their choices outside of cultural interference through human migration. Survival instinct as occasioned by harsh economic conditions, youthful exuberance triggered by narcotic influences and peer pressure, for example, are identified as major causes of the moral inversion that has happened among youths in the world the society. Considered an oddity in the African setting, homosexuality and bestiality ironically enjoy legitimacy in some western world. For instance, while the Law in Nigeria prescribes a 14-year jail term for people caught in sexual intercourse with an animal, four out of the 50 states in the United States of America are pressing for a law to criminalise sex between man and animal. And in like manner, human and animal rights crusaders and other civil society groups are having issues getting a legislative ban on bestiality in some western democracies like Malta, for example.

Possible foreign influence

Located 234 km to Cicily in Italy, Europe and 332 north of Libya, Malta’s proximity to Africa may not be ruled out as a gateway of European civilization to Africa. Though there may not be statistical evidence available to the effect, it is no doubt instructive, to note, that proximity to western cultures may have inspired the spread of bestiality to Africa. Whereby, sexual attraction to animals was mainly observed in parts of Africa closer to Europe, in exceptional instances among nomads who mostly live alone in the fields with some of the zoophilia vulnerable animals like cows, camels, dogs and so on. Considering bestiality and given the legal status in Malta, some 332 km from Libya particularly, being a desert Afro-European gateway country where men travel far distances on beasts and its proximity to Sudan, another country long noted for unrestricted immigration of persons, mainly nomads, in the West African sub-region, one may not be far from a major route through which bestiality may have found its way into the Nigerian environment. It is however worthy of note that the unregulated regional migration in the West African sub-region has contributed to the exodus of nomadic herders from Mali, Mauritania, Sudan, Niger and Chad, to mention but a few into Nigeria, raising security concerns. It is through African gateway countries, intended and unintended civilization exchange takes place and on the Internet too. Since bestiality mostly takes place in hiding to avoid the usual public unfavourable disposition to it, unrestricted access to the Internet plays a major role in the contamination of African culture with the daily millions of offensive content. Though the same has not been seen in the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the Nigerian Video, and Films Census Board (NVFCB), the National Communication Commission (NCC), and other relevant agencies, the government must regulate the Nigerian net space and keep it sane at all times.

How countries protect their spaces

Many countries are alive to their responsibility of protecting/ preserving their societal sanity and therefore restrict access to online contents considered injurious to the public. A check on the Internet reveals that animal porn videos are accessible on the Nigerian net space round the clock, even without the use of a virtual private network or proxy servers, nor any agency scrutinizing of the negative effects. Even countries like the United Arab Emirates and Iran restrict access to adult content at all times of the day. Culturally and religiously, there is a long-standing societal attitude of opprobrium towards the menace of zoophilia as it is widely reckoned as a desecration of cultural values and acts of occultism. This informs the usual toga of the stigma associated with whosoever is found in the act. Fundamental, yet spreading fast, the destructive implications of bestiality are enormous and poses far-reaching dangers to the preservation of mankind and the sustenance of civilization. Being attracted to animals is taboo in modern society, just as much as having sexual intercourse with them is equally a crime in Nigeria It is no longer a surprise in most parts of Africa to read reports about a sub-human engagement like a marriage between a man and an animal; same-sex marriage or incest. It however usually attract wide public reprehension and imprecation simply because they negate the ethics of an ideal society. And due to the far-reaching self-inflicted dangers it poses on the health of perpetrators and the animals involved, with rights to protection under the law and the society at large, the Nigerian prescription of 14-year jail term for convicted bestiality is considered somewhat light, and, in most cases under-adjudicated for the law to take its cause. Like every other environmental vice that has to be frontally curtailed if not eradicated, tackling the menace of bestiality requires a well-informed society with an adequate grasp of what constitutes the slide; its effects or consequences on culprits and the larger society; legal, social and religious perspectives and other possible causes besides cultural impinging. Real, yet less reported, bestiality poses great danger and does no good to the human environment and brings with it several lethal consequences.

Health implication

Firstly, humans having sex with animals can injure or kill the animal, as well as cause it to fear other humans, especially in cases where the animal experiences pain as a result of such sexual activity. Humans are also at risk of injury or even death from their penal indiscretion, especially when it involves large animals such as horses and cattle. Secondly, there is the added consequence of transmission of disease especially given that the vast majority of zoophiles engage in unprotected sex and thereby endangering their human partners. It can also damage a country’s reputation from an animal welfare perspective. For societies that had matured into the consciousness, respect and preservation of the divinely-endowed right of Humans the right of animals must be a priority. Household pets with greater chances of interaction with society are sadly the most attracted to bestiality. Research has it that dogs are normally the most vulnerable targets, as they are easily manipulated; given the high degree of trust they show, towards humans.

Legal implication

In Nigeria, cases of bestiality exist and law enforcers have had to run unending battles in their efforts at judiciously administering justice at each occurrence, to serve as a deterrent for future perpetration of the human devaluing crime. According to Section 214 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act, sex between humans and animals is classified as ‘unnatural offences’, which includes “having carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature; of an animal; or a man who permits a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature.” Against this section of the Nigerian Constitution, a certain 20-year-old man who was found having sex with a she-goat was sentenced to 1-year imprisonment by an Abuja Magistrate court after being reported by a neighbour. The confessional statements of another 20-year-old from Yobe State, Malam Kamisu Baranda, who confessed to having sodomized his two goats, highlights another ponderable twist to a possible motivation for the beastly sexual inclination among some people. Kamisu’s explanation justified the opinion in many quarters that bestiality is more of a psychiatric problem than spiritual. Under police interrogation, after canal knowledge of two of his animals, he repudiated a case of cruelty/rape and abuse, as he tried to rationalize his bestial lustfulness, saying he sought the goats’ consent before sodomizing them to death. He likewise ran afoul of the law as the sitting Judge ordered him remanded after his plea for clemency based on ignorance of the law. “I didn’t know I could be arrested for this,” if I knew I wouldn’t have done it, Kamisu said in Hausa. His lamentation further revealed the link between low self-esteem and the enticement of animals. He had developed a sexual attraction to animals as a result of an inferiority complex. He found non-discretional creatures like chickens and dogs as sex mates “to avoid the usual embarrassment from ladies”, trying to avoid his self pre-preempted failure at securing the confidence of a woman. Another 25-year-old in Gwaram Local Government Area of Jigawa State, was sighted dragging two animals which were confirmed to have died after he had intercourse with them. The Police Public Relations Officer, Jigawa Police Command, ASP Lawan Shiisu, confirmed the incident in Dutse. There is also an unconfirmed report that some men engage in animal sex for money ritual purposes. Men who engaged in sex with animals due to low self-esteem, an altered mind as a result of narcotic influences and want of the opposite sex are the most common zoophiles. However, women who engage in this act start from prostitution and do so mainly for money. More recently is the case of a fair-complexioned girl who claimed to have slept with a dog for N1.7m (About $4,000). She even allayed fears she could be infected with zoonosis. In her words; “What is the big deal there? I only slept with a dog, I didn’t kill somebody. You, in your life, have done worse and besides, have you seen N1.7million before?” The fair-complexioned ticktoker who instantly became the subject of the recent outcry against bestiality, out of casualness, probably never expected her barbaric act to attract the volume and magnitude of the public outcry that followed despite coinciding with the trending of the infamous Chrisland Schools pupil’s sex video. She must have banked on the characteristic public chariness attitude of not scrutinising others’ sources of urgent wealth even when the acclaimed riches show signs that they are not from legitimate source. The girl in the viral video questioned the wide public condemnation that greeted her show of rottenness; taunting the majority of those who lampooned the act and declaring that they must have engaged in worse atrocities greater than zoophilia and never were as lucky as she is to have earned so much. Her statement read further: “As if it’s a big deal. And mind you I’m not infected or anything. Stop dying on the matter, I’m enjoying the money,” she said. Such a barefaced gutful outburst by a young girl who should have buried her zoophilic head in shame and saved her family from the disgrace of her sexual bonding with an animal – a dog, when carefully dissected, not only reveal her motivation, it equally depicted an audacious brat under the influence of an intoxicant. First, she downplayed her offence as ‘lesser’, given other prevalent atrocities that people commit for money. The accentuation of her N1.7m for sleeping with a dog is a pointer to the despicable elevation of money above good virtues in society. This has manifested in other preposterous engagements, especially among youth like ritual killing, frauds, armed robbery etc. Another aspect of her shameless outburst is where she said: “And mind you I’m not infected or anything”, even when it is likely that she did not see a doctor for a check-up, thereby endangering her male human clients to all sorts of zoonosis as she goes on with prostitution. Also by querying the morality of those who may never have seen so much money for committing greater atrocities, to probe the source of her newly found millionaire status, which she did not hide from the public, dirty and dehumanising as they are is a clear testament that a lot is wrong with the world we live in and requires urgent retracting of our steps, socially and mentally. The two major faiths of Christianity and Islam frown at the menace as clerics from both religions agree that bestiality is one of the numerous signs of the time.

Religious outlook

The two Abrahamic faiths agreed that their scriptures prescribed death penalty for perpetrators. Speaking to New Telegraph in a chat on the menace of bestiality, the Senior Pastor of Light Bearers Christian Centre, Lagos, Kingsley Ifinnwa described the sexual pervasion of zoophilia, as a sin that provokes God, destroys civilization; and the height of degradation of mankind, while he added that bestiality is an act by satan worshippers. “In the Bible days,” he started, reeling out various scriptural references to back his position “great civilization was destroyed as a result of the sin of bestiality which is the highest form of degradation of mankind. “From the first civilization in the days of Noah, God destroyed humanity because every inclination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil all the time and we observed that it was sexual perversion that provoked God’s judgement upon the earth. “The second civilization destroyed outright by God was Sodom and Gomorrah whose destruction was provoked primarily by sexual perversion.” The Lagos State University History and International Relations graduate turned preacher explained why God destroyed civilization because of zoophilia. “One may ask why their sin is tied to sexual perversion! The bible describes sexual sin as the only sin that one sin against his or her own body and that is degrading God’s image. “From the Old Testament down to the New Testament, God frowns at sexual sin of any form but then we saw that God warns the nation of Israel, a nation under God from getting themselves involved in all forms of sexual sin which were one of the major reasons several civilizations were destroyed.” Speaking further, the founder of Kingsley Ifinnwa World Outreach (KIWO), explained why those involved in bestiality are satan worshipers. “Sexual perversion is a form of satan worship because satan is always demanding that man must worship him against God’s stated commandments and laws. “In scripture, we have temple prostitutes who had a degrading form of sex before the altars and shrines of abomination, which God calls the object of provocation in the scripture. God warns Israel and His church against such lifestyles.” Pastor Kingley as the KIWO founder is fondly called, however explained that the destruction by God, in the past, of various civilizations due to Sodomy should serve as adequate warning to the present day man, of the dangers of sexual pervasion. “Now, these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters. “The scripture warns us not to follow their examples and lifestyles, lest we also experience the same swift judgement without mercy Quoting from the Bible, he explained that God specifically prescribed punishment for zoophiles, “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal must be put to death. “Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.” “Cursed is the man who has sexual relations with any animal.” He also hinted at the need for relevant agencies like the NBC and NCC to be alive to their responsibilities in discouraging the perpetration of the anomaly. Because according to him, nations where sexual sins are committed, will not be spared from the wrath of God. According to him, “God decreed a curse upon anyone or any nation that encourages bestiality in any form, which is one major reason for the extinction of several civilizations even down to the Roman empire. “God decree that even the innocent animal must be killed along with her sex partner. For a man or woman to have sexual relations with an animal is the lowest form that mankind can degrade themselves to. Man, that was created in the image and likeness of God now degrades God’s image to the likeness of an animal or a beast. The LASU graduate regretted that man has sunk deeper in his corruption from having casual intercourse with animals to a level where marriages are conducted in western cultures and courts between humans and animals. Declaring that those who engage in sexual invention stairs the wrath of God on themselves and the society at large. “Our civilization is already beckoning for God’s judgement because in our days we do not just see a man having sexual intercourse with animals but they have gone a step further in befriending animals and even marrying them in the court of law. “Several others are calling animals their siblings which are all degrading to the human mind,” he added. A Lagos based Islamic cleric, Ustaz Khalifa Olamilekan Alhaji, agrees with Pastor Kingsley, both on the possible cause and prescribed penalty for bestiality citing passages from the Quran. “It signifies that the end is near and perpetrators are liable to death as stated in the scriptures,” adding that, harsh economic situation, greed, and cultural interference have all contributed to the increase in societal degeneracy, but are “not enough as excuses to go against the will of Allah.” “Anyone who engages in bestiality is no longer human. They downgrade themselves to the level of an animal, which is against the intention of God. We are supposed to be His images,” he concluded. Prince Adebayo Shuaib Alabi is an Engineer and Islamic scholar. He talked about the causes, consequences and Islam prescribed penalty of bestiality, noting that the vice is alien to Nigeria. “From religious and moral perspectives, bestiality is wrong. “Mostly pushed by drug abuse, it is common in the folds of drug addicts. It is not common in Nigeria but common among a few nomads. It often results in infection and mental relapse. But the most common push is drug addiction and peer pressure. “As regards Islamic jurisprudence, it is frowned upon and attracts admonition or punishment. “Admonition when she or he’s not become of age, punishment when she or he is an aware, sane adult,” Ustaz Adebayo stated. An increased spate of drug addiction, loss of moral values, the abdication of regulatory duty by relevant government agencies, and lack of public education on the dangers of bestiality, to perpetrators and the society at large, are among the major motivations for bestiality and it underscores the society’s need to holistically confront the intertwining nature of the various forms of complementary societal decadence.

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