World of strange fellows who make love to animals · Experts analyse psychological, health implications By SUNDAY ANI (nichsunny@yahoo.com)

 “Why didn’t he come to me; I would have given it to him for free.” A prostitute was reported to have made the comment when the story of a man who raped a hen in South Africa went viral. She so much empathized with the man that she wished he had come to her to quench his burning sexual passion instead of going bestial to rape a mere fowl.

That was in South Africa. Today, it is happening everywhere on earth including our own dear Nigeria. The South African episode surprisingly played out in Nigeria when on August 19, 2014, a 19-year-old apprentice welder was allegedly caught pants down making love to a hen. The abomination, which report said occurred at 11:20 pm at a continental area of Akure metropolis in Ondo State, allegedly led to the death of the fowl.

The suspect, whose names were not mentioned, confessed that he had been involved in a similar act with a goat in his home town, Afo in Ose council area of the state; a development that led to his ex-communication from the town.

Following his ex-communication by his people, he left his home town for Akure where he was living with his brother before the fowl incident.

The owner of the fowl, Mrs Stella Akintola, who resides in the same building where the act was committed, confirmed that the man actually made love to her hen. She said she had gone to bed early but was woken up by the noise coming from the chickens at the back of her room; a sign that something was wrong with the birds. She stated that the noise from the chicken pen suddenly stopped but that did not stop her from checking on the birds. “I went to where the chickens were but nothing was found. It was when I visited the toilet that I found one of the fowls dead with its feathers littered on the floor,” she said.

Still confused as to what had happened to the birds, she said she raised alarm, which forced the man to confess that the bird died while he was making love to it. “He confessed and begged me for forgiveness, promising to pay any amount I wanted for the dead fowl.”

Apart from the man’s secret confession to Mrs Akintola, it was reported that evidence that he actually had sex with the fowl was obvious when the owner and others around examined the fowl.

But, the suspect told newsmen that a spirit directed him to do what he did. “I was already sleeping when a spirit just came upon me and directed me to go to the back of the building. I did not know what I was doing again until when I discovered that I had slept with the hen.”

The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Wole Ogodo was reported to have said when contacted that the matter was not reported to them and that they could only investigate matters that were brought to them by members of the public. He was also quoted to have described the incident as strange if it was true.

But, what was God’s original plan for man with regard to sexual fulfillment? God, after creating Adam (man), decided to give him Eve (woman), as a companion and charged them to procreate and fill the earth. Some people argue that the charge was an automatic ticket for them to have unhindered sex since that remains the only means through which procreation can be achieved. They also argue that companionship as God meant it included sexual satisfaction. In other words, Adam and Eve, representing man and woman, were brought together for the purposes of bearing children and satisfying their emotional need of sex.

God also created animals as well as other creatures – male and female, so that they could also reproduce and continue to exist alongside man on earth. He never envisaged that man would abandon the woman He gave him to seek for sexual pleasure from animals. Regrettably, that is the reality of how far man has gone in the quest to satisfy his sexual passion.

A flip through the daily newspapers is all what one needs to confirm the ugly trend. Stories of men who sleep with animals such as dog, goat, donkey and Chimpanzee among others make headlines oftentimes. Such stories have relegated to the background, such other strange stories of man sleeping with fellow man (homosexualism), woman making love to fellow woman (lesbianism) or masturbation (man or woman tickling self to reach orgasm).

Aside the fowl puzzle in Ondo State, in August 2014, in Iguosa, Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State, an 18-year-old man simply identified as Ighodaro was allegedly caught red-handed making love to a dog in an uncompleted building.  Curiously, the dog was said to have been enjoying the act before the crowd ‘rudely’ stormed the place and interrupted the music.

Ighodaro, a secondary school dropout was said to have undergone welding apprenticeship; a trade he was learning when he became a lover of dogs. He was believed to have slept with five different dogs at different times in the past before the latest incident; a story, Ighodaro himself corroborated.

Report informed that a passerby who saw him in hot sexual encounter with the dog at the uncompleted structure raised the alarm, which attracted crowd to the scene. The dog’s owner, Mr George Ogbonmwa while expressing shock at the incident, stated that when he saw the young man and the dog, he never suspected he had any ulterior motive.

“I thought he wanted to play with the dog. But, he ended up in an uncompleted building where he had carnal knowledge of the dog. This is like a dream to me because I have not seen this kind of thing in my life before,” he said.

The head of the community, Elder Clifford Igiehon described the act as an abomination, which calls for the cleansing of the land through the appeasement of the gods. He said the man’s parents will do the necessary rituals to cleanse the land but insisted that since the community would not want the abomination to be repeated in future, the man would be handed over to the police to serve as deterrent to other intending deviants.

The dog was also said to have been killed as the first step towards cleansing the land and appeasing the gods of the community. “But we have killed the dog because that is the first thing to do and because we don’t want this kind of taboo to happen again, we have decided to hand the boy over to the police. This kind of a thing has never happened before. The boy will have to face the music. The parents will perform the traditional rites, which will cost about N100,000. He knew what he was doing because he was not mad. We know him from the beginning. He was in school before he went to learn welding. We were even shocked when he said he has had sex with dogs five times. That will tell you he knows what he is doing,” Elder Igiehon said.

The suspect who spoke at the Edo State Police Command Headquarters, Benin-City said he did not know what was wrong with him. He admitted that he has had enjoyable sex with five different dogs in the past. Two out of the five, he said, bit him in the process. “I don’t know when I slept with the dog. I had slept with dogs five times in the past. I have been bitten twice by dogs while having sex with them but each time I was bitten, my grandfather would treat me,” he said.

How does he convince the dog? What courtship behavior does he exhibit to attract a dangerous domestic animal like dog to have sex with him? On the magic wand that unlocks the sexual passion of the animal and relaxes its nerves for the erotic adventure, he said: “When I call them, I will be rubbing their head and petting them so that they could feel free with me. I would be playing with them until they follow me. Sometimes, they would bark at me and when I notice that the barking is becoming serious, I would leave such dogs and look for another one that could be friendlier. Anyone that is friendly with me, I would take to an uncompleted building and have sex with it.”

Does it mean he doesn’t have anything to do with human beings? He also said: “I had a girlfriend but we are no longer together. I started sleeping with dogs around March 2014. I don’t know what is wrong with me. None of my relations knows I sleep with dogs. In this particular case, the dog is so familiar with me; so it was easy to lure it away. While I was having sex with the dog, one man saw me and ran to inform the community head. They now came and picked me up and asked the police to check me and see if I have any disease. I don’t know what is wrong with me,” he repeated.

Edo State Police Commissioner, Foluso Adebanjo, who reacted to the incident, was quoted to have said: “What he has done is classified under Unnatural Offences. Section 214, Sub-section two of that law says that any person who has carnal knowledge of an animal is guilty of a felony and he is liable to 14 years imprisonment if found guilty. We are going to charge him to court. You can see that the guy is not denying anything. He made a confessional statement that he has been sleeping with dogs since March and he has done it five times. I was very worried because this is an unnatural offence and it can bring problem to the community. The boy looks normal unless he has spiritual problem because I can’t imagine somebody sleeping with a dog. He said he had a girlfriend before. You can imagine if he sleeps with another woman what he will transmit to such a woman. That is how they spread diseases, particularly now that we have different diseases. It is really shocking that we experience this type of issue every day in our country. I am worried but thank God that the dog has been killed because they said the offence was a taboo.” 

In March, 2014 in faraway Jigawa State, Northwest Nigeria, a 20-year-old man, Mallam Kamisu Baranda was arrested by Jigawa State Police Command for allegedly having sexual intercourse with a goat.

The incident, which happened at Baranda forest in Dutse Local Government Area of the state, was found to be one of the many of such uncommon sex escapades by Mallam Kamisu, who admitted that animals have been satisfying his sexual urge for some time, since he didn’t want any embarrassment or insult from womenfolk.


Presiding over the case at the Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Dutse, the Jigawa State Capital, Magistrate Auwalu Sani Balago said the accused person did not confess that he committed the act but the court remanded him to allow police make further inquiries. Kamisu was said to have admitted that the goat belonged to him and that he asked for the goat’s permission to have sexual intercourse with it. He, however, regretted that he was arrested by the village head of the area and handed over to the police. He admitted that he had been involved in such sexual act with animals for over 10 times in the past without being caught. “If I knew that I would be arrested, I wouldn’t have tried it because I don’t like embarrassment and that was the reason I wasn’t interested in making love to women in the area,” he was alleged to have said.

He revealed that animals satisfied his sexual urge and so he stayed away from women in the state just to avoid embarrassment. He regretted that he eventually fell into the embarrassment he was trying to avoid. He urged the court to tamper justice with mercy since he knew that what he did was against his Islamic faith as well as against the law of the land.

However, in faraway east African country of Zimbabwe, the story is the same. In December 2012, a security guard from the capital of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo was allegedly caught having sexual intercourse with his employer's dog in Burnside suburb. The guard, identified as Mr Fanuel Piki, was allegedly seen by a gardener having a nice time with the animal. The gardener, Mr Prince Moyo, allegedly alerted his employer and a report was made at Hillside Police Station. The incident was confirmed by deputy Bulawayo Police Spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Bekimpilo Ndlovu. Feelers from some quarters revealed that it was not the first time Mr Piki had had sex with the dog. “We heard rumours that he was doing that sometime in June. The rumours were difficult to believe, but with the latest development, it becomes clear that he has been doing it for some time. We heard that he would tie the animal up before having sex with it. We also heard that the gardener was attracted by the dog's continuous howling and he had to find out what was wrong,” said one of the sources.


However, Mr Piki denied the allegations, saying, “These are all lies being spread by the gardener. I keep the clock and he is always late. He made up the story because I have given him several warnings and recently told him I would tell the boss that he is often late.” His employer was reported to have said he had nothing to say since it was a case for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). But, his Human Resources Manager, who reacted on his behalf was quoted to have said: “It would be premature for me to say anything before police conclude their investigations. We are handling a case of alleged bestiality that happened in Burnside.”

Even in Europe, the story is not different. In Island, an Irish woman was reported to have died after having sex with a dog. The 43-year-old woman was alleged to have died from an allergic reaction.

The owner of the dog, 57-year-old Sean McDonnell appeared before Limerick District Court after his Alsatian dog had sex with the woman. The woman later died from an allergic reaction.

Irish newspapers reported that McDonnell was the first person to be ever tried under the legislation banning sex with animals. The deceased woman was alleged to have met with McDonnell on bestiality chat room, where they reached an agreement for the act.

Although, the Police are apparently satisfied that the sex was consensual, McDonnell could face a life sentence in prison if found guilty. The woman allegedly fell ill after the incident and was rushed to Limerick hospital where she died from a severe allergic reaction to the sex.

Psychological angle

However, many people believe that bestiality is not a normal way of life and that those who are involved in it have serious psychological problem. A Consultant Psychologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Dr Leonard Okonkwo, who also referred to the subject-matter as zoophilia could not agree less.  

“Of course you know there have always been cases of people sleeping with animals. It is called zoophilia or bestiality. Zoophilia is actually more of affection; a fixation or a specific liking towards animals with particular reference to sexuality, while bestiality aptly describes the act itself, which is the actual human beings sleeping with animals,” he said.

Appreciating the fact that bestiality is on the increase, he described it as one of the deviant sexual behaviours that exists. “It is one of the paraphilia that we have; just like copraphilia where people have sexual fixation towards excreta or faeces or necrophilia, where people have fixation towards dead bodies or actually having sex with dead bodies. But, in this particular case, they are human beings sleeping with animals,” he said.

Looking at factors that could be responsible for such deviant sexual behavior, he said: “One, you find that many people who indulge in such act tend to have low self-esteem. Sometimes, they are people who have problem in their relationship and the impacts are so much that they find solace sleeping with animals because these animals don’t give their consent. They feel that since the animal cannot say no and so, they should just go on sleeping with them.”

He also said that people tend to get into the act when they lack regular sex partners. “For instance,” he continued, “in America, you find it very common or rampant where they have farm lands or settlements, when animals are more than human. Some people who have engaged in this act have confessed that they did it at the time they did because they didn’t find regular sexual partner. So, they find one animal that will not complain and use it.”

He also identified curiosity as another factor responsible for bestiality. He said: “When people want to explore the adventurous instinct; when they want to know what it feels like sleeping with animals, they indulge in the act. Just like what you see in the regular heterosexual act, where people sometimes want to engage in different kinds of sexual postures or positions in different places such as in the car, kitchen, park, on the tree and so on. That could be another reason.”

He equally blames the scourge on learning process, when he said: “People learn these things and the chief culprit in all of these learning processes is the pornographic sites. With more pornographic providers including bestiality in their programme, people tend to be curious to practicalise what they watch. But, you see, these things are make-belief. For instance, when you find a lady sleeping with a dog and she seems to be enjoying it so much because she screams and moans, it could make some people believe that the act could actually be very erotic and they would want to experiment, but the fact is that the screaming and moaning are all make-beliefs. I am not saying that the acts don’t take place. They do but the feelings, the erotic and the noise, giving the impression that it is enjoyable are all make-belief, meanwhile the end user will think it is real. And so, once they find opportunity, they want to try it out.”

Do they need help? Dr Okonkwo said: “They need help; they need cognitive restructuring. Their thinking pattern needs to be restructured. They need help. As a psychologist, I would recommend psychotherapy for such people.”

Health implications

The fears in some quarters that those who sleep with animals are most likely to infect women they have sex with, was confirmed by the Medical Director of Jeokem Hospital at Maza-maza area of Lagos, Dr Emmanuel Enabulele. He said those who sleep with animals and at the same time human beings could transmit zoonosis, which according to him, is an infection from animal to man. “Zoonosis are bacteria that can infect both animal and man at the same time. Such people could also transmit other types of bacterial or viral infections that may not be common with man,” he said.

He believes that those who sleep with animal have psychiatric disorders, just as he links the act with quest for spiritual powers. “Those who sleep with animal could be schizophrenic, which is a kind of madness that disturbs the mind. It is also possible that they have instruction from a ritualist to do that with animals just to have some spiritual powers,” he said.

He also said that those who are sexually starved could also engage in bestiality. “Talking about sexual starvation, it means those who cannot afford to pay for the services of commercial sex workers; who cannot afford to have women, maybe as a result of their soft personality or because of resource constraints or those who do not even know how to masturbate (which can be a form of sexual relief). They practice such things with birds, dogs and reptiles.”

He also revealed that there are others who just do it for money. “With the camera in front of them, they practise bestiality. And even force people to do it as a kind of pleasure. It is common in the western world where a sex worker could be paid to make love to dog. But all these are part of a disturbed mind. There is a psychiatric dimension to it,” he submitted.