Full Statute Name:  Vernon's Texas Statutes and Codes Annotated. Penal Code. Title 5. Offenses Against the Person. Chapter 21. Sexual Offenses. § 21.09. Bestiality

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Primary Citation:  V. T. C. A., Penal Code § 21.09 Country of Origin:  United States Last Checked:  January, 2024 Alternate Citation:  TX PENAL § 21.09 Date Adopted:  2017 Historical: 
Summary: This law represents Texas' prohibition on bestiality, which was enacted in 2017. A person commits this offense if he or she engages in listed contact with an animal. Additionally, a person violates this law if he or she: possesses or provides an animal for such purpose; organizes, promotes or participates in such conduct; permits such conduct at premises under his or her control; engages in conduct listed described in the presence of a child younger than 18 years of age; or advertises, offers, or accepts the offer of an animal with the intent that the animal be used in this state for conduct described. Violation is a state jail felony unless the conduct is done in the presence of a child younger than 18 or the conduct results in serious bodily injury or death of the animal; the offense is a felony of the second degree in those cases.

 (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly:

(1) engages in an act involving contact between:

(A) the person's mouth, anus, or genitals and the anus or genitals of an animal; or

(B) the person's anus or genitals and the mouth of the animal;

(2) fondles or touches the anus or genitals of an animal in a manner that is not a generally accepted and otherwise lawful animal husbandry or veterinary practice, including touching through clothing;

(3) causes an animal to contact the seminal fluid of the person;

(4) inserts any part of a person's body or any object into the anus or genitals of an animal in a manner that is not a generally accepted and otherwise lawful animal husbandry or veterinary practice;

(5) possesses, sells, transfers, purchases, or otherwise obtains an animal with the intent that the animal be used for conduct described by Subdivision (1), (2), (3), or (4);

(6) organizes, promotes, conducts, or participates as an observer of conduct described by Subdivision (1), (2), (3), or (4);

(7) causes a person to engage or aids a person in engaging in conduct described by Subdivision (1), (2), (3), or (4);

(8) permits conduct described by Subdivision (1), (2), (3), or (4) to occur on any premises under the person's control;

(9) engages in conduct described by Subdivision (1), (2), (3), or (4) in the presence of a child younger than 18 years of age; or

(10) advertises, offers, or accepts the offer of an animal with the intent that the animal be used in this state for conduct described by Subdivision (1), (2), (3), or (4).

(b) An offense under this section is a state jail felony, unless the offense is committed under Subsection (a)(9) or results in serious bodily injury or death of the animal, in which event the offense is a felony of the second degree.

(c) It is an exception to the application of this section that the conduct engaged in by the actor is a generally accepted and otherwise lawful animal husbandry or veterinary practice.

Credits

Added by Acts 2017, 85th Leg., ch. 739 (S.B. 1232), § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2017.

 
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