Tennessee prosecutors are finding cases to file under a two-year-old state law against bestiality, The Tennessean reports. Three people are accused of engaging in sex acts with farm animals in one county; in another, a youth football coach was already under investigation for child rape when police reportedly found images of bestiality on his cell phone; in Nashville, police charged a man and a woman after a tipster turned over photos of them having sexual contact with a dog.
Prosecutor Mike Bottoms of Maury County said, “There are laws against cruelty to animals, but they dealt more into the neglect of the animals, which wasn’t the case here.” “We had no idea this sort of thing was happening,” said Maury County detective Terry Chandler. “This goes on. These people live all across the United States, and they know each other.” Groups like the Humane Society of the United States point to studies that show the high correlation between sexual abuse of animals and sexual abuse of children.