Bestiality in Suburbia: Zoo

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Bestiality in Suburbia: Zoo — Jan 23rd 2007

By Karina Longworth

Early one morning in 2005, a dying man was unceremoniously dropped off at a hospital in Enumclaw, WA, a small town 45 miles outside of Seattle. Hours later, the man, who was carrying no identification, died from internal bleeding caused by a perforated colon. Security camera footage of the car that dropped the man at the hospital led authorities to a horse farm. There they found "buckets full" of video tapes documenting men having sex with horses. The farm was apparently a meeting spot for an online community of zoophiles (they call themselves "zoos"), who would gather to drink daiquiris, watch science fiction films, and engage in sexual intercourse with Arabian stallions. The regular visitors to the farm knew one another by their online screen names. The dead man's name was Mr. Hands.

The incident became a major media event in the Pacific Northwest, and videos confiscated from the farm eventually made their way online. Since there is no law against bestiality in Washington, none of the men who operated and frequented the ranch were charged with a crime. They did, however, come in for their share of public humiliation. Now those men are telling their side of the story, in Seattle-based filmmaker Robinson Devor's Sundance Documentary Competition entry, Zoo.

Devor incorporates audio interviews with regular visitors to the ranch, as well as reenactments of (non-sexual) events, many featuring the actual participants. "We had no interest in regurgitating what was already out there," Devor told Netscape News, referring to the tabloid TV and Internet exposure. "It was difficult. Just getting [the participants] to talk openly was a challenge because we were 'The Media'. And 'The Media' was bad for a lot of people involved. Some of them would have preferred to have seen a hard-line, 60 Minutes sort of documentary expose. But that's not what we do as filmmakers."
Anyone anticipating a kinky session with Mister Ed will walk out of Zoo disappointed. And what about more high-minded cineastes? After a week of sniggering references to the "the horse-f**king movie," the Sundance press corps denied Zoo the customary round of applause. Yet it's worth noting that a handful of major critics have so far reviewed it favorably. And the film is visually stunning, shot with a hazy, fairy-tale glow by cinematographer Sean Kirby. There's only a glimpse of zoophilia in action: some grainy, primarily out-of-frame television footage. In lieu of graphic imagery, Devor relies heavily on metaphor to pad out his story--sometimes several metaphors piled into one shot.

The conflict between the public and private lives of Mr. Hands--the man who died at the suburban hospital--is of great interest to the filmmaker. During the week, Mr. Hands was a divorced father of a young son, living alone in a Seattle high-rise and making a more-than-adequate living working for a defense contractor. His weekends on the farm functioned as an escape from a lifestyle that he had come to find suffocating. Like other zoophiles who describe their fetish in the film, he was attracted to the idea of physical intimacy divorced from an anxiety-plagued human relationship.

"Mr. Hands was such an interesting character," says Devor. "This was a guy who was a conservative man at one point, and those ideas started breaking down for him. I think that 9/11 triggered a lot of it. But he was [also] in the center of one of the most secretive military complexes. Meanwhile, he listened to a lot of left-wing radio, he questioned everything our government was involved in, and he was ethically conflicted about his job and the money he was making. That's the core fascination for me."

Zoo is the rare independently-produced documentary to arrive at Sundance with theatrical distribution. "We came in towards the end, provided some finishing funds, but they were basically on their way," says Erin Owens, Director of Marketing for ThinkFilm. Owens is currently booking the film at various festivals; she says the company is going to take some time to gauge the general reaction before setting a release date.

The distribution company may have reason to worry. Surely some viewers will be turned off by the director's refusal to clearly condemn or condone the lifestyle at the center of Zoo. But Devor is adamant about the film's neutrality. Drawing a moral, he says, is "too one-dimensional, too easy. Everyone's going to want their own agenda, stated clearly. That we cannot give them, because then we're just a mouthpiece. That's not our job."

Tags: documentary, horses, netscape reports, NetscapeReports, robinson devor, RobinsonDevor, sundance, sundance film festival, SundanceFilmFestival, thinkfilm, zoo, zoophilia

18 Comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Melanie — 11:16PM on Jan 24th 2007

1. SICK, SICK, SICK, People like this should be put to sleep.

Michael — 5:54AM on Jan 25th 2007

2. You know, I, in a million years would never think that when life gets too challenging I could run out and get ass fucked by an arabian horse to relieve my stress.

Chris — 5:51PM on Jan 25th 2007

3. Oh yes of course! That's it. The moral conflict of having a job for the industrial military complex. The stress of 9/11 and seeing how evil his country really was. Yeah sure, that's the core fascination. Oh, and as an aside it all caused him to want to get fucked by horses. Damn 9/11. Yet another victim. The horse.

Kristy — 8:38PM on Jan 25th 2007

4. He deserved to die.
He's got my vote for the Darwin Award of the Year.

bilgi — 10:05AM on Jan 26th 2007

5. Oh yes of course! That's it. The stress of 9/11 and seeing how evil his country really was. Yeah sure, that's the core fascination. Oh, and as an aside it all caused him to want to get fucked by horses. Damn 9/11. Yet another victim. The horse.

keem — 10:04AM on Jan 29th 2007

6. Thank God that Mr. Hands died. Someone like that deserves to die. If only his other arabian horse loving friends would die from a perforated rectum. This world would definitely be a far better place and as far as the director trying to justify Mr. Hands and the horse fucking clans reasons for doing it, "This was a guy who was a conservative man at one point, and those ideas started breaking down for him. I think that 9/11 triggered a lot of it. But he was [also] in the center of one of the most secretive military complexes. Meanwhile, he listened to a lot of left-wing radio, he questioned everything our government was involved in, and he was ethically conflicted about his job and the money he was making. That's the core fascination for me." is complete bullshit. Animals were created to be our friends not our lovers. All the confusion and stress in the world would never make me want to lay with an animal. The director of the film said there reasons for having affairs with Arabian horses was because they needed sex without the strings. Well hello, thats what prostutes are for. Burn in hell you horse fuckers. And Ive got a question to ask b4 I go would that make these men gay since they were apparently having sex with male horses. I mean why didnt they just fuck one another/.

SEEDOFABRAHAM — 8:53AM on Jan 28th 2007

7. Noone deserves to die, not even Mr. Hands. Sounds like this article somehow is blaming the 'left wing" and its messag, that brought this degenerative and lasvidisiousness side of him. Not so, it wasn't anything left wing or right wing that created this deep seated darkness within his soul. It was the absense of light in his life which only Christ could fill. Darkness cannot survive where light is present. ANd that light came in the form of Christ, who died for all of us so that we would not perish but have eternal life. For without Christ we are all destined for death and eternal damnation. Not one is good, not even one. We are all sinful in the eyes of God just as Mr. Hands was. Christ paid the price for us and became a living sacrifice for all our sins. All we must do is to accept Him and believe in Him who was crucified, buried and resurrected back to the Father as He now sits on the right hand side of the Father with all power and authority at His disposal.

Just the Fruit Please — 10:36PM on Jan 29th 2007

8. What I find interesting is that someone was perverted enough to go and make a movie about a monster who abused animals to try and show "his side of the story", what about making a movie that shows the animal's side of the story? How the animals suffer and what is done to the animals? What about the impact on these people's Souls? I cannot even begin to think that anyone would want to try and rationalise something like zoophilia away to 9/11, that is just plain stupid. Go see a shrink, hell, go see siz if one does not do it for you! Just leave the animals alone, or at least try and screw one that can fight back, let's see how they do against a wild orang-u-tan or a gorilla. For that matter, go f*&% a Lion! Just let me watch mother nature get her own back when these guys try.

Shannon Wiggins — 12:50AM on Feb 1st 2007

9. I'm stunned what our world is comming to.
And starting to beleive what my husband tells me.
A month or two me and my husband were talking about how bad the world was becomming and he said you just wait men will be having sex with animals, he said the end of the world is near and I thought to my own self yeah right nah it's not that bad RIGHT!!! wrong it's happing all we need is for some sick horney man all stressed out and know he's going to screw an animal over this movie. Dog or cat's could the victim no telling how do you become so demonic. our home our world is decaying fast and everwhere you turn there sickness

Jay Yentay — 8:22PM on Feb 3rd 2007

10. The man, Mr. Hands, does have a name, he's Kenny Pinyan, a regular guy and a divorced father. Kenny is not some slut by the way, he had a special relationship with just one partner. Their difference in species didn't matter one iota, they were true companions, equine and human. Kenny would often just talk to his beloved partner. Kenny even once asked his equine confidant his name and the horse responded, "Winnie." So remember, judge not lest ye be judged.

J.

paul — 7:26AM on Feb 8th 2007

11. I like horses too. Is it too soon after Mr. Hands death to ask Winnie out? My last equine lover left me for another defense contractor that made more money than me. Maybe Winnie has friends? Does anyone out there want to double up? Watching the colts win the superbowl really got me horny... Harrummmpf!

Jay Yentay — 11:13AM on Feb 10th 2007

12. Oh Paul, will you stop already, you silly goose. You know very well that zoophiles are just another aspect of normalcy the same as gays, lesbians, heteros, transsexuals, transgenders and hermaphroditic-galesbians. Kenny having sex with "Winnie" is quite normal, the same as say, you and I having sex. But i think you alreadt know that, don't you. Winnie, by the way

MiKael — 3:19PM on Feb 12th 2007

13. The thing that bothers me about this, besides the obvious abuse of the horse here, is all of the ridiculous excuses for this man's behavior and the suppositions as well. Anyone who believes that a conservative could not have engaged in this activity is deluding themselves. Sexual deviation knows no such boundaries whatever the deviation might be. This man didn't just one day out of the blue decide to try something new, you can bet he harbored his proclivity for a long time before he ever sought to indulge it. He may have even fantasized about it most of his life, no one will ever know that for sure. But those who work with sexual abusers would tell you the scariest part of offenders is how far their deviancy can range. Not to mention that this paticular behavior is not some new low that sick people are stooping to, it's been around forever. The thing that is different now is the internet. It has brought us all closer together and that includes the sickos. Before the only way these guys could find each other was in the back of the very sickest pornographic magazines. But with that there was the risk of exposure. whether it was being seen going into the prono shop or the plain brown wrapper falling off and exposing the recipients secret to the postal service. Now, they can find each other in the privacy of their own homes. Being able to get "support" from each other makes them bolder and more likely to act on their fantasies. Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying the internet is a bad thing, it is what it is. But I am saying that they have manipulated it like everything else in their lives to justify and condone their behavior.

Jay — 5:11PM on Feb 13th 2007

14. MiKael,
You're being nothing more than a mere homo-zoophobe.

If I were Winnie I wouldn't touch you with a five-foot pole (no pun intended).

You need to understand that Kenny was a very deep (no pun intended) and a very complex man who believed, from birth, that he was actually a gay horse trapped inside a man's body. But alas, unlike the operations that the transsexuals of today enjoy, there is no surgical procedure to transform a man into a horse, sheep or any of the other species of animals that they may be inside. And that's a very real tragedy!

Shannon — 2:56AM on Mar 25th 2007

15. Horses are kind of big but a Dog is just right. Don't knock it until you have tried it. I am a mom and a good wife but when the family leaves the house I like to spend time with big boy, Buster.

Harold — 12:17PM on Mar 25th 2007

16. I for one, am just sickend by the news even reporting this type of garbage. While the stress of life is sometimes just unbarable, I find it rather strange that "this" is what people think is the "asprin" for the medical condition that these...I will remain nice..."people" are in need of. personally, I hope and pray, that the ZOO people, will find some type of theripy for this deadly course they are on. While I could be very nasty like some of you others, I chose to be understanding of the fact that these people truly need help..help..help!!! I pray they get it. And SOON...thank you for your time and understanding of my point of view. Harold in Pa.

Abraxos — 5:24PM on Apr 9th 2007

17. This message is addressed to those who have lashed out verbally at the unfortunate man who passed away as a result of the Enumclaw incident.

Many of you are citing abuse. Where is the abuse? Can you describe what was abusive about the man's relationship with the stallion? Do you think the horse was traumatized by the opportunity to get his nut off? Are there any other reasons you are citing abuse? There is no abuse here... Open your eyes.

It's very easy to sit behind your computer screens and cast aspersions, isn't it? In your Western capitalist complacency, are you so bored and so arrogant that you presume to lash out with snap judgements whenever the opportunity presents itself, instad of either giving each issue its due consideration, or keeping your mouth closed and respectfully saying nothing? And how DARE you suggest that this man deserved to die, for engaging in such harmless activity with the horse.

How many of you have smacked a dog, or kicked an animal? How many have set traps for mice to snap their necks? If you, dear reader, have done these things and consider this man deserving of death, then you deserve much worse. His behaviour was not normal, but it was not criminal. If you think for a moment that he would have harmed the horse then you are not thinking clearly at all... Try opening your mind and avoid forcing people into your preconceived notions of what they are like.

Dave Prosser — 4:39PM on Apr 12th 2007

18. so what

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