I just gotta look every time I see one of these stories because one of these times I’m going to recognize the person. This time it was a male mixed breed dog. Guess this dude was a German Shepard trapped in a man’s body. Police-man-arrested-on-bestiality-charge.

Texas was one of eight states where bestiality was illegal only when it was witnessed by a third party. As Sheriff Harlon Copeland would say, “What a man does on his own time is his own bidness.”

That changed September 1, 2017:

Sec. 21.09. BESTIALITY. (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.

Added by Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 739 (S.B. 1232), Sec. 2, eff. September 1, 2017.

As a practical matter prior to the law change, a defendant was typically charged with Public Lewdness or Animal Cruelty.