The
Enumclaw horse sex case was a 2005 incident in which
Kenneth Pinyan[1] (June 22, 1960 – July 2, 2005), an
American Boeing engineer residing in
Gig Harbor, Washington,
[2] died from injuries received during
anal sex with a
stallion at a farm in an
unincorporated area in
King County, Washington, near the city of
Enumclaw.
During a July 2005 sex act, videotaped by a friend, he suffered a
perforated colon from receptive anal intercourse from a
stallion and later died of his injuries. The story was reported in
The Seattle Times and was one of that paper's most read stories of 2005.
[3] It was informally referred to as the "Enumclaw horse sex case".
[4] Video footage of Pinyan and a horse was later disseminated through the Internet.
[5]
Pinyan's death rapidly prompted the passing of a bill in Washington prohibiting both
sex with animals and the videotaping of the same. Under current Washington law, bestiality is now a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.[
citation needed]
A documentary of the life and death of Pinyan, and the life led by those who came to the farm near Enumclaw, debuted at the
Sundance Film Festival 2007 under the title
Zoo. It was one of 16 winners out of 856 candidates for the festival,
[6] and played at numerous regional festivals in the United States thereafter.
[7] 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.
[8][9]