A History of Zeta Verein
The Zeta Verein: a German Success Story of a Zoophile Organization
Hidden in forums, are many zoos waves of anti-bestiality laws striking the Western World. With the power of the law, against zoophiles institutionalized and now perpetrators can have their animals seized, neutered, or killed, and may end up in jail or enlisted as a sex offender.
Most zoos lose hope when facing what they feel is an unavoidable prophecy. However, and the creation of the Zeta Verein (Zoophiles Engagement for Tolerance and Enlightment) . This association embodies the fight against discrimination and prejudice of people with zoophilic interests. Nowadays, work largely consists of providing to students and researchers for papers representing zoo people by participating in interviews for journals, radios or the making of movies. However, this ha not always been the case.
Everything began in the year 2009. The Zoophile community was enjoying its last years without antibestiality laws in many countries and online forums were still flourishing. In Germany, the Tierschutzgesetz (Animal Welfare Act) was about to be subjected to a vast reform. For some zoos, one thing was Zoophilia was about to be part of the debate and they needed to prepare for it.
Under the impulse of Michael Kiok, it was decided t. the project had every reason to fail. To create such an entity, you need 7 founding members, agreeing to sign the statutes and face the inherent risk of outing themselves. With that done, the founders decided to register . Usually, only a matter of procedure. However, things turned out very differently for the Zeta Vereins an association representing a sexual minority that is not to everyone’s taste, t had to argue before the courts for over three years . At first, it was said that the goals of the association were illicit judges were convinced that there was no other way to talk about zoophilia than to show pornographic materials to people. Once the Verein successfully argued against those accusations, the “contrariety to public decency” was the the hopes of the zoos t register their association.¹
2011 – 2013 a zoophilia ban in Germany?
Registered or not, the founders had no time to lose. On the 10th of October PETA held a press conference about the creation of the zoo association and depicted bestiality acts as being already illegal ( was false). his provided public attention to the newly created Vereincould already list some achievements could be proud ofMan loves dog” was about to be released ts facebook group was growing. However, events were about to accelerate.
First, activists started the supposed existence of animal brothels in Germany. group active under the name Zoos4Zoos (or ZooGruppe Deutschland) was animals for sexual use in exchange for payment. very different 2008 promis to rent animals,then asked for a payment to “find the closest farm” before simply disappearing.² Zeta Verein’s opinion on that was and is still very clear: animal brothels are not acceptable by any means and will be reported to the authorities if any proof of their existence is found.
Nevertheless, the clarification of Zeta Verein’s position with regards to animal brothels did not make its existence more acceptable in the view of a more radical range of animal welfare activists. Thus, 2012 board members of the Zeta were already receiving huge amounts of hate mail and death threats³. The fight against zoophilia would also gain public attention Dr. Martin was about to propose of prohibition of zoosexual acts, animal husbandry practices excepted.
In the meantime, the zoo association to They managed to track the ip address of someone that had filmed himself while committing cruel acts of most despicable nature and transmitted it to the authorities. The Verein would then regularly make posts about unsolved cases of sadism, offering anonymity to anyone that could share useful information.
On the 24th of March 2012, a demonstration was organized in the city of Cologne. With 350 participants announced, a hundred people showed up to the event. Some zoos decided to participate in order to initiate discussions.police to protect the zoos from the aggressivity that some of their opponents were showing. They later declared that they underestimated the importance of the group effect. Accusations of mistreatment were made against zoo participants that came with their animals, some activists were trying to get footage of their genital parts, convinced they would find wounds and evidence of violence there. They the authorities but after examination by a veterinar it was proven that the animals were healthy.
In the same period, the German Chancellor organized the Zukunft Dialog in order to give the population a chance to share their views on the future of the Nation. Citizens had the possibility to make propositions. One came from Mrs. Ulla Saure asked for prohibitions of sexual acts upon animals. Some peoplevote multiple times, with some claiming 60 to 70 votes in a single day.⁴ This manipulation of the voting system was noticed by the press and some zoos informed the authorities about it.⁵ In the end, the Chancellor would state that the Animal Welfare Act gave enough protection to
This failure wasn’t everyone’s taste and it was decided that a protest would take place in front of Michael Kiok’s . Participants trespassed on and informed his neighbors about his sexual orientation. The had one goal in mind: to damage his reputation as much as possible. he local law enforcement later apologized to Mr Kiok for .
In the summer 2012, the Bundesverband Praktizierender Tierärtze (Federal association of practicing veterinarians) support a Zoophilia Ban. Operation Fair Play consist of sending veterinarians forms with questions about their experience with signs of zoosexuals acts on animals. The Zeta Verein regretted not having been consulted for this project and raised concerns about potential biases, as healthy animals would.
On the 1st of September, a second demonstration was announced in the city of Köln. oophiles decided not to take part, as they feared for their safety. People hiding their faces took part in the protest and the rumours of the existence of animal brothels were brought up to public attention even tho a journal investigated this issue and could not find any proof of their existence
By the end of the year, the possibility that a oophiliaan would see the day light was becoming more plausible despite the fact that experts alerted the legislator on the incompatibility of such a prohibition with the constitutional order of Germany and its liberal tradition⁷. ZETA Verein organized a protest with “Equality for All” on the 1st of February that ended with the of a movie. Unfortunately, no opponent of zoophilia accepted their invitation to present their views.
All those efforts didn’t prevent the Zoophilia Ban from being adopted and its entry into was planned for the 13th of July. Th success of the anti-zoo wouldn’t satisfy all of the as some decided to write to the workplace of Michael Kiok sexual preferences. Fortunately, this had no professional consequences for Mr Kiok. As if this wasn’t enough, other decided to organize a second demonstration in front of Michael Kiok’s house on the 28th of July. had one last card in their hands: der Bundesverfassungsgericht (German Supreme Court).
2012 – 2015 nullum crimen sine lege, so let’s change the law!
n order to make a claim that a law is unconstitutional, one needs to pay specialized lawyers. , being able to stack up money in a bank account in the name of the association can be very practical. need to have been registered by a Court, just need . However, no bank is compelled by the law to accept any clients. No bank welcomed ZETA Verein. It is not clear whether those refusals came from rejection of zoophiles or fear that
Those issues would not deter the Zeta Verein from fulfilling its goalsn the 1st of February 2014, the was one of the first major Zoophile event organized after the new law passed and took the form of a protest in Berlin followed by the projection of a movie and a debate, to which no zoo-opponents ato take part. The same day another demonstration was organized by zoo opponents combining animal rights activists and far-right groups. Thanks to the presence of the police, no one was injured during the demonstration. On the Zoophile’s side, the
In the years 2014 and 2015, the Zeta Verein its annual Zoophiles Rights Day and got attention from the media it was sometimes hard for the association to find enough English fluent members to . The Verein also supported a from zoos living in foreign countries to counteract propaganda made against , mainly in Finland and Denmark.
In Germany, the Court decision was published on the 18th of February, and it was stated that the ban on bestiality was uph, ruling that d violate the right to sexual self-determination. Media from all around the world about failed attempt from zoophiles to challenge a law before the courts⁸. However, y the argumentation of the Court it is clearly stated that the rule prohibiting “the use of an animal to commit sexual acts for oneself or training an animal or providing an animal for the sexual acts of a third party, and therefore constraint him to behaviour contrary to its species” only render illicit acts that include the use of physical constraint or coercion that is a the use of physical strength⁹. his law protects animals from sexual abuse without banning all sexual acts.
To conclude, the creation of the Zeta Verein was first marked by the rejection the courts to recognize it as a legal entity. However, the controversy and public attention brought by those rulings benefited the zoo association. For more than five years, a very active minority of anti-zoos conducted a harassment campaign aimed at destroying the lie of the zoo activists, hoping that they would abandon their . With time, the work of the Zeta Verein started to pay as the subject was slowly but surely media attention, with journalist renouncing with common misconceptions. In the end, thanks to the coordination of some zoos, members of the community decided to challenge the bestiality-ban before the law with great success. Nowadays, Zeta Verein’s founder feels confident about the situation in Germany, claiming that the anti-zoo movement remains weaken
Charles Menni
¹ Chronology of the events and courts decisions are available here: KIOK Michael, Chronik der Nicht-Eintragung, Blog des ZETA Verein, 1er janvier 2013. [https://blog.zeta-verein.de/2013/01/chronik-der-nicht-eintragung/].
² TIGERLILY, Zoos4Zoos – das Märchen der deutschen TiersexBauernhöfe, ZETA Verein Blog, 15 janvier 2012. [https://blog.zeta-verein.de/2012/01/zoos4zoos-das-marchen-der-deutschen-tiersex-bauernhofe/].
³ For a few exemples see: KIOK Michael, Fan Post & Fan Post #2, Zeta Verein Blog, 21 janvier & 11 février 2012. [https://blog.zeta-verein.de/2012/01/fanpost/] ; [https://blog.zeta-verein.de/2012/02/fanpost-2/]
⁴ ATHABA, Demokratie à la Tierrechtler, ZETA Verein Blog, 8 avril 2012. [https://blog.zeta-verein.de/2012/04/demokratie-a- la-tierrechtler/].
⁵ BEUTH Patrick, Bürgerbeteiligung im Netz mit fragwürdigen Ergebnissen, Zeit Online, 13 avril 2012. [https://www.zeit.de/digital/internet/2012-04/dialog-fuer-deutschland-ergebnis-manipulation/komplettansicht#print].
⁶ MEYER Katharina, Gibt es Tierbordelle in Deutschland ?, Badische Zeitung, 28 Septembre 2012. [https://www.badische-zeitung.de/nachrichten/deutschland/gibt-es-tierbordelle-in-deutschland--64112664.html?mode=in]
⁷ THEILE Charlotte, Ehemaliger Verfassungsrichter Hassemer zum Zoophilie-Verbot : « Nicht alles Widerliche
verdient staatliche Strafe », Süddeutsche Zeitung, 13 décembre 2012. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/ehemaliger- verfassungsrichter-hassemer-zum-zoophilie-verbot-nicht-alles-widerliche-verdient-staatliche-strafe-1.1548925].
⁸ Se also: MORTIMER Caroline, German court upholds ban on bestiality, ruling it does not violate the right to « sexual self-determination », The Independent, 19 février 2016.
[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/german-court-upholds-ban-on-bestiality-ruling-it-does-not-violate-the-right-to- sexual-selfdetermination-a6884216.html].
⁹ BVerfG, Bleschluss der 3. Kammer des Ersten Senats vom 08. Dezember 2015 – 1 BvR 1864/14, Rn 1-15,
published on the 18th of February 2016. [https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/DE/2015/12/rk20151208_1bvr186414.html].
Charles Menni, June 2023
Twitter: @CharlesMenni
Special thanks to Michael Kiok for helping to get the details right.
You can find all my articles in French on Zeta Verein’s blog: https://blog.zeta-verein.de/fr/
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