Enumclaw horse sex case - Wikipedia

Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in

Article Talk Read View source View history Search Wikipedia Go

Search

Enumclaw horse sex case

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Enumclaw horse sex case was a series of incidents

Main page Enumclaw horse sex case
Contents in 2005 involving Kenneth Pinyan,[2] an engineer who
Current events worked for Boeing and resided in Gig Harbor, Washington;
Random article James Michael Tait, a truck driver; and other unidentified
About Wikipedia men. Pinyan and Tait filmed and distributed zoophilic
Contact us
pornography of Pinyan receiving anal sex from a stallion
Donate
under the alias "Mr. Hands".[3][4] After engaging in this
Contribute activity on multiple occasions over an unknown span of
Help time, Pinyan received fatal internal injuries in one such
Learn to edit incident.
Enumclaw horse sex case (Washington
Community portal
The story was reported in The Seattle Times and was one (state))
Recent changes
Upload file
of that paper's most read stories of 2005.[5][6] Pinyan's death Date July 2, 2005
rapidly prompted the enactment of a bill by the Washington Location Unincorporated area in King
Tools State Legislature that prohibits both sex with animals and the County, Washington, United
States (near Enumclaw)
What links here videotaping of such an act. Under current Washington law,
Related changes Type Zoophiliac
bestiality is now a Class C felony punishable by up to five
Special pages Cause Acute peritonitis caused by
years in prison.[7]
Permanent link traumatic perforation of the colon
Page information Contents [] Participants Kenneth Pinyan (Mr. Hands),[1]
Cite this page James Michael Tait, an
1 Background
Wikidata item unidentified male, and a stallion
2 Pinyan's death
Deaths 1 (Kenneth Pinyan)
Print/export 3 Investigation

Download as PDF 4 Media reporting

Printable version 5 Criminal charges, guilty plea, and sentencing
6 Aftermath
Languages 6.1 "2 Guys 1 Horse"
日本語 6.2 Zoo
Svenska 6.3 James Michael Tait and later events of 2009–
Edit links 2010
6.4 Section 16.52.205 of the Revised Code of
Washington
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

Background
In the 1970s, many statutes that had criminalized certain sex acts in various U.S. states were repealed, largely
since they had criminalized some consensual sex acts between adults that were no longer considered

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enumclaw_horse_sex_case[04/12/2022 8:11:11 PM]

Enumclaw horse sex case - Wikipedia

appropriate to forbid (e.g., criminalizing all oral and anal sex ).[8][9] In Washington state , a law was repealed on
July 1, 1976, that had said:

Every person who shall carnally know in any manner any animal or bird, or who shall carnally
know any male or female person by the anus or with the mouth or tongue; or who shall
voluntarily submit to such knowledge; or who shall attempt sexual intercourse with a dead body,
shall be guilty of sodomy...

— 9.79.100 of the 1974 Revised Code of Washington[10]

An effect of the repeal was that bestiality became legal in the state of Washington .

Kenneth Pinyan had worked for Boeing for eight years. [2] He had previously been married to a woman and had
children with her. He had moved from Seattle to Oak Harbor, Washington .[11] Pinyan had been building a new
house and a barn that he planned to keep a horse in, along the Key Peninsula Highway in Gig Harbor,
Washington. He was about to begin making payments on the property's mortgage.[2]

Pinyan had previously lost the ability to experience certain sensations after a motorcycle accident, and he had
begun to seek out increasingly extreme sexual acts such as insertion of extremely large dildos , fisting, and
receptive anal sex with horses. In the early 2000s, he found a group of men online, nicknamed "zoos", who
began meeting at a farm in an unincorporated area of King County, Washington, for communal weekends. The
group filmed one another being anally penetrated by horses and sometimes engaged in sex with each other
afterwards (which was also filmed), and posted the videos online. According to Charles Mudede , co-writer of
the 2007 documentary film Zoo, the men trained the horses to penetrate them by stripping, applying a horse
breeding pheromone , and bending over .[1] In 2015, Mudede wrote that the men had a sexual fixation on large
penises "that may have had nothing to do with horses".[1] He also believed Pinyan did not truly love horses and
was not a true zoophile,[1] although Pinyan had a cast created of the penis of his favorite horse, Strut.[12][13]

Pinyan's death
The incident that killed Pinyan occurred at a 40-acre (16 ha) farm located in an unincorporated area in King
County, Washington,[14][15] 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of the city of Enumclaw .[14] Sgt. John Urquhart of the
Sheriff's Office said that "typically", men were having sex with a horse on the property of James Michael Tait,
a truck driver who lived in a trailer next to the farm, "but on this particular night it is my understanding that
horse wasn't particularly receptive".[16] So Pinyan, Tait, and a third unidentified man snuck into the barn of the
Southeast 444th Street farm that night. The men would often visit that farm for sexual purposes. Either Pinyan
or the unidentified man recorded Tait being anally penetrated by a stallion known as Big Dick. After finishing,
Tait then filmed Pinyan being anally penetrated by the same horse. During this incident, Pinyan sustained
internal injuries including a perforated colon .[2][16]

On July 2, 2005, an unidentified man dropped Pinyan off at the Enumclaw Community Hospital.[14][17]
Medical staff wheeled Pinyan into an examination room before realizing he was dead.[14] According to the
Medical Examiner's Office, Pinyan, 45, "died of acute peritonitis due to perforation of the colon", [14] and the
death was ruled accidental.[18]

Investigation
After Pinyan died, the authorities used his driver's license to find acquaintances and relatives. Earlier news
reports stated that the authorities had used surveillance camera footage to track down Pinyan's companion.
Using the contacts, the authorities found the farm where the incident occurred. The police tracked down the

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enumclaw_horse_sex_case[04/12/2022 8:11:11 PM]

Enumclaw horse sex case - Wikipedia

rural Enumclaw-area farm, which was known in zoophile chat rooms as a destination for people wanting to
have sex with livestock, and seized 100 VHS tapes and DVDs amounting to hundreds of hours of video of men
engaging in bestiality. One of the videotapes featured Kenneth Pinyan shortly before he died on July 2.[14][16]

Prosecutors later determined that the horse had not been injured.[15][19]

It was only after Pinyan died, when law enforcement looked for one way to punish his associates,
that the legality of bestiality in Washington State became an issue [...] The prosecutor's office
wanted to charge Tait with animal abuse, but the police found no evidence of abused animals on
the many videotapes they collected from his home. As there was no law against humanely
fucking a horse, the prosecutors could only charge Tait with trespassing.

— Charles Mudede, The Stranger[2]

The prosecutor's office says no animal cruelty charges were filed because there was no evidence
of injury to the horses.

— Associated Press in The Seattle Times[20]

Media reporting
Jennifer Sullivan, a Seattle Times staff reporter, said that originally the King County Sheriff's Department did
not expect the local newspapers to report on the event because of its gruesome nature. However, after an
Associated Press report stated that the farm where the event occurred attracted a significant number of
people who sought to partake in bestiality, the Times decided that it needed to write articles about the case as
multiple people were involved.[21]

Criminal charges, guilty plea, and sentencing

The videographer in the case, 54-year-old James Michael Tait, [15] was charged with criminal trespass in the
first degree – the owners of the farm, a third party, were not aware that the men had entered the property to
engage in bestiality. The third man was not charged since he was not visible in the videos seized by
investigators.[2] On November 29, 2005, Tait entered an Alford plea , a form of guilty plea in which the accused
maintains that they are factually innocent but acknowledges that the evidence would likely lead to conviction
and thus accept being convicted.[22] Judge David Christie gave him a suspended one-year sentence, a $300 fine,
one day of community service, and ordered Tait never to visit the farm again.[2]

Aftermath
Mudede wrote that at the time of the incident that the residents of Enumclaw were shocked and angered by the
event. In 2015, ten years after the incident, he wrote that Enumclaw residents were still unwilling to
acknowledge what had happened.[11]

"2 Guys 1 Horse"

After Pinyan's death, a video circulated on the Internet of Kenneth Pinyan engaging in receptive anal
intercourse with a horse. The video was nicknamed "Mr. Hands" or "2 Guys 1 Horse". The video, intended
originally to sexually gratify the viewer, became one of the Internet's first viral reaction videos and was
featured in the documentary Zoo.[23][1][24] On his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe Rogan showed
the video to two guests, Iliza Shlesinger and Josh Zepps , on two separate episodes. [25][26]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enumclaw_horse_sex_case[04/12/2022 8:11:11 PM]

Enumclaw horse sex case - Wikipedia

Zoo
Main article: Zoo (2007 film)

A documentary of the life and death of Pinyan, and the lives led by those who came to the farm near
Enumclaw, debuted at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival under the title Zoo. It was one of 16 winners out of
856 candidates for the festival,[27] and played at numerous regional festivals in the U.S. thereafter.[28]
Following Sundance, it was also selected as one of the top five American films to be presented at the
prestigious Directors Fortnight sidebar at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival .[29][30]

James Michael Tait and later events of 2009–2010

Some time after the events in Washington, James Michael Tait moved to Maury County, Tennessee , onto a
farm owned by a man named Kenny Thomason housing horses, pigs, goats and dogs. On October 13, 2009, a
woman associated with them, Christy D. Morris, was arrested and charged with three counts of animal
cruelty.[31] Two days later, an anonymous person e-mailed investigators a photo of a man having sex with a
Shetland pony from Thomason's farm; Tait and Thomason were arrested that same day. Tait was charged with
three counts of felony animal cruelty, while Thomason was charged with two. According to Tait's arrest
warrant, he had been engaging in sex acts with a stud horse over a span of several months. Tait and Thomason
admitted to engaging in sex acts with a horse.[32][33] In January 2010, Tait pleaded guilty in a Tennessee court
to engaging in sexual acts with animals and was placed on probation.[34]

Section 16.52.205 of the Revised Code of Washington

After Pinyan died, a Washington State Senator , Pam Roach , crafted a bill to ban bestiality in Washington
State.[21] Senate Bill 6417, which made bestiality a Class C felony, passed on February 11, 2006. Mudede
wrote "It was an almost comically easy law to pass";[2] bestiality had little political support in Washington and
no group in the state actively advocated for bestiality to be legal.[2] Mudede wrote that reading RCW 16.52.205
was "very much like reading hardcore porn".[2] The law prohibits "videotap[ing] a person engaged in a sexual
act or sexual contact with an animal" that is "either alive or dead". Because of the provision against
videotaping, Mudede stated that the law "points an angry finger directly at James Tait."[2] In 2015, Mudede
said that he was unaware of any bestiality arrests in Washington State since the Pinyan incident.[1]

See also
List of horse accidents
United States portal
List of unusual deaths
Biography portal

Horses portal

Human sexuality portal

References
1. ^ a b c d e f Sokol, Zach (July 16, 2015). "The Strange, Sad Story of the Man Named Mr. Hands Who
Died from Having Sex with a Horse" . Vice. Archived from the original on February 8, 2016.
Retrieved January 1, 2016.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Mudede, Charles (February 23, 2006). "The Animal In You" . The Stranger.
Archived from the original on April 11, 2006. Retrieved April 30, 2006.
3. ^ Lim, Dennis (April 1, 2007). "Zoo – Film" . Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved
February 13, 2019 – via NYTimes.com.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enumclaw_horse_sex_case[04/12/2022 8:11:11 PM]

Enumclaw horse sex case - Wikipedia

4. ^ "Horse Riding Mr Hands, Washington" . Archived from the original on September 26, 2018.
Retrieved February 13, 2019.
5. ^ "Horse sex story was online hit" . The Seattle Times. December 30, 2005. Archived from the
original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
6. ^ Macdonald, Moira (July 3, 2006). "Infamous Enumclaw horse sex case to be made into movie" .
The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on October 27, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
7. ^ State of Washington, Fifty-Ninth Legislature (March 8, 2006). "Animal cruelty in the first degree" .
RCW 16.52.205. Archived from the original on January 10, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
8. ^ Hay, Mark (March 7, 2014). "Nobody Wants to Talk About Bestiality Until Someone Fucks a
Horse" . Vice. Archived from the original on December 29, 2018. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
"And the offenses that were in place were stricken from the books in the 1970s, when "Crimes against
Nature" laws that had lumped bestiality in with consensual sexual acts between adults once labeled
as illegal—like sodomy—were deleted wholesale."
9. ^ "The History of Sodomy Laws in the United States – Washington" . www.glapn.org. Archived
from the original on November 18, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
10. ^ "9.79.100" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on August 27, 2016. Retrieved July 26,
2016.
11. ^ a b Mudede, Charles (July 22, 2015). "Revisiting the Town of the Most Famous Horse Sex Death in
Recorded History" . The Stranger. Archived from the original on April 15, 2016. Retrieved April 11,
2016.
12. ^ "A stable relationship?" . Evening Standard. May 29, 2008. Archived from the original on March
31, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
13. ^ Frater, Jamie (November 1, 2010). Listverse.com's Ultimate Book of Bizarre Lists: Fascinating Facts
and Shocking Trivia on Movies, Music, Crime, Celebrities, History, and More . New York City:
Ulysses Press. p. 107 . Retrieved February 13, 2019 – via Internet Archive.
14. ^ a b c d e f Sullivan, Jennifer (July 15, 2005). "Videotapes show bestiality, Enumclaw police say" .
The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on August 24, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
15. ^ abc Anderson, Rick (November 9, 2005). "Closing the Barn Door" . Seattle Weekly. Archived
from the original on January 5, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2016. "Tait, a truck driver who lives near the
Southeast 444th Street farm where the death occurred, "
16. ^ a b c Anderson, Rick (October 9, 2006). "Closing the Barn Door" . Seattle Weekly. Archived from
the original on October 16, 2019. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
17. ^ Keegan, Rebecca Winters (January 28, 2007). "Have You Seen the Horse Sex Movie?" . Time.
Archived from the original on February 2, 2007. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
18. ^ Sullivan, Jennifer (July 15, 2005). "Enumclaw-area animal-sex case investigated" . The Seattle
Times. Archived from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
19. ^ Foundas, Scott (May 18, 2007). "Zoo" . Variety. Archived from the original on August 19, 2010.
Retrieved September 17, 2010.
20. ^ "Charge filed in connection with man who died having horse sex" . The Seattle Times. Associated
Press. October 18, 2005. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
21. ^ ab
Messer, Lesley (July 18, 2005). "When a Man Dies in a Sex Act with a Horse – What's a
Reporter to Do?" . Editor & Publisher. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved
May 11, 2016.
22. ^ "Man in infamous Enumclaw horse-sex case faces new charges in Tennessee Archived
February 16, 2016, at the Wayback Machine". The Seattle Times. October 20, 2009. Updated
October 21, 2009. Retrieved on February 7, 2016.
23. ^ Mick, David Glen; Pettigrew, Simone; Pechmann, Cornelia (Connie); Ozanne, Julie L. (January 26,
2012). Transformative Consumer Research for Personal and Collective Well-Being . Routledge.
ISBN 9781136698743. Archived from the original on August 11, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2019
– via Google Books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enumclaw_horse_sex_case[04/12/2022 8:11:11 PM]

Enumclaw horse sex case - Wikipedia

24. ^ Lim, Dennis. FILM — A Lyrical Approach to a Subject That Shocks Archived March 15, 2016, at
the Wayback Machine. The New York Times. April 1, 2007. Retrieved on October 13, 2010. "The sex
in Zoo is merely glimpsed and barely discernible in a few seconds of a video that the police had
confiscated and that was circulated on the Internet after Mr. Pinyan's death."
25. ^ "Iliza has to take off her sweater for 2 guys 1 horse" . Archived from the original on February 27,
2019. Retrieved February 13, 2019 – via www.ustream.tv.
26. ^ PowerfulJRE (May 16, 2016). "Joe Rogan Shows Josh Zepps "Mr. Hands." (from Joe Rogan
Experience #796)" . Retrieved February 13, 2019 – via YouTube.[dead YouTube link]
27. ^ Westneat, Danny (December 3, 2006). "New movie is the spawn of horse sex" . The Seattle
Times. Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
28. ^ Dentler, Matt (May 4, 2007). "Matt Dentler's Blog: Cannes Countdown: Directors' Fortnight Lineup
Impresses" . Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved October 28, 2010.
29. ^ "Zoo, which opens today in NY and LA, has just been selected as one of the features of the
prestigious Directors Fortnight sidebar at this year's Cannes Film Festival". Zoo: Inside the
Controversial Documentary about Bestiality Archived June 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
30. ^ Eugene Hernandez, "'07: Slate Set for 49th Directors' Fortnight Archived May 29, 2016, at the
Wayback Machine", IndieWIRE, May 3, 2007.
31. ^ "3 accused of having sex with animals in Maury Co" . WKRN. October 19, 2009. Archived from the
original on June 5, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
32. ^ "Man in infamous Enumclaw horse-sex case faces new charges in Tennessee" . The Seattle
Times. October 20, 2009. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
"James Tait, 58, was arrested and charged Thursday with three counts of felony animal cruelty in
Maury County, Tenn."
33. ^ "US Farmer in horse-sex arrest" . lite-news.com. Archived from the original on April 23, 2019.
Retrieved February 13, 2019.
34. ^ Sullivan, Jennifer (April 16, 2010). "Felon accused of running animal-sex farm in Whatcom
County" . The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on April 30, 2016. Retrieved May 11,
2016. "Tait, 58, pleaded guilty in January in Tennessee to engaging in sexual activity with animals
and was released on probation."

External links
Sullivan, Jennifer (October 19, 2005). "Trespassing charged in horse-sex case" . The Seattle
Times.
Boeing In Memoriam, September 2005

Categories : 2005 in American law 2005 in Washington (state) 2006 in American law
Accidental deaths in Washington (state) Animal pornography Deaths from peritonitis
Horse-related accidents and incidents King County, Washington Sex and the law
Washington (state) law Zoophilia

This page was last edited on 6 September 2022, at 20:26 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;

additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Mobile view Developers Statistics

Cookie statement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enumclaw_horse_sex_case[04/12/2022 8:11:11 PM]