Texas Panhandle Town Moves To Make It Illegal To Have Sex With Animals

AMARILLO, TX — Amarillo Animal Management & Welfare officials will host two informational meetings next week to gather public input into proposed amendments to the municipal code formally outlawing the unspeakable: Sex with animals.

“We need to come together and redefine what it is to be an animal owner and what acts are allowed to do to our animals,” Amarillo Animal Management & Welfare director Richard Havens told ABC 7 News. He explained that over the last two years, up to a dozen animals have shown signs consistent with acts of bestiality. "Primarily, right now, the victim species that we see right now is dogs, but once again this is an issue that's across the country. Amarillo is not unique."

“Personally, I think it's horrible because it's just not natural and I think we should keep to human sexual relations and I think it'd be cruel to do that to animals,” Amarillo resident Kyira Sommers told the news station.

The new rules carry punitive measures the city can take against violators, with maximum fines of $200 per infraction as well as bearing the costs of care and maintenance of affected animals.

The first hour-long hearing on the matter is scheduled March 6 at the Amarillo Public Library, North Branch, 1500 N.E. 24th Ave. beginning at 7 p.m. A second hearing on the proposed amendments is scheduled March 7 at the downtown branch of the Amarillo Public Library, 413 E. 4th Ave., that starts at noon.

To see a draft of the proposed ordinance, click here.

With a population of some 200,000 residents, Amarillo is the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. The city was once the self-proclaimed "Helium Capital of the World" for having one of the country's most productive helium fields. Today, the city is known as "The Yellow Rose of Texas, a moniker referencing its name that is the Spanish word for yellow.

>>> Read the full story at ABC 7

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