A documentary being shown at this year's Hot Docs film festival depicts one of this culture's last taboos. It's called Zoo.

The film, directed by Robinson Devor, follows the story and shocking death of Kenneth Pinyan, a Boeing aerospace engineer who connected online with a community of zoophiles that had access to a ranch in Enumclaw, a small town of 10,000 not far from Seattle and Mt. Rainier. Throughout the course of a year, Pinyan (known in the zoo community as "Mr. Hands") humanized his sexual fantasies with animals in the most unthinkable way. Pinyan was having intercourse with Arabian stallions, and in the absence of a bestiality law presiding in Washington at the time, the men felt free to videotape Pinyan's sexual encounters.

Their small town secret became an international media story on July 2, 2005 when Pinyan was anonymously dropped off at an emergency room of a local hospital. The previous night's zoo gathering got sloppy; Pinyan and another man disregarded the group's self-made safety precautions after having too many drinks. A final sexual encounter with a horse the men referred to as "Bullseye" or "Big Dick" would prove deadly, with online reports stating he "pushed back further" than normal causing a perforated colon. It took roughly three hours for his friends at the ranch that night to convince Pinyan to seek medical attention, but by the time he was deposited at the hospital, his injuries were too severe. He died later that day. 

The event is commonly referred to as the "Enumclaw Horse Sex Incident."

Hospital surveillance tapes traced the license plate of the car to the nearby ranch, where police seized buckets of videotapes of Pinyan having sex with the stallions. Without the existence of a bestiality law, the only charge laid was given to James Michael Tait who police say videotaped the fatal moment when the horse's penis ruptured Pinyan's colon--charging him with trespassing and a $300 (USD) fine and community service.

As graphic as it seems, the movie isn't exploitative of its re-enactments of the story; giving many people who were involved (the zoos, the ranch owners, local police) a chance to voice their thoughts on the events that occurred.

Zoo Facts:
*In Enumclaw more than a decade earlier, there was another bestiality case that hit the news when a man was shot by a farmer who caught him sneaking onto his farm to have sex with pygmy goats.
*On February 11, 2006, "Senate Bill 6417 was passed in Washington making bestiality a Class C felony."
*Here's a Dan Savage (a.k.a. Savage Love) podcast discussing his thoughts on bestiality (see episode #5) and a dolphin sex link he references.

The Hot Docs film festival starts tomorrow and the first of two screenings for "Zoo" is Friday April 26th. To buy tickets to this or other films at Hot Docs, click here. Just be mindful all you festival goers, it's a zoo out there.