Zoo

Zoo is a 2007 American documentary film based on the life and death of Kenneth Pinyan, an American man who died of peritonitis due to perforation of the colon after engaging in receptive anal sex with a horse. The film combines audio testimony from people involved in the case or who were familiar with Pinyan, "with speculative re-enactments that feature a mix of actors and actual subjects." The film’s title refers to the subcultural term for a zoophile, a person with a sexual interest in animals. Zoo’s filmmakers intended to approach the film’s subject matter from a non-sensationalized perspective and chose to forego more lurid details, focusing instead on humanizing the people involved. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007, where it was one of 16 documentaries accepted out of 857 candidates. Following Sundance, it was selected as one of five American films to be presented at the Directors' Fortnight sidebar at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. Synopsis In July 2005 near the small rural town of Enumclaw, Washington, Kenneth Pinyan died from internal injuries sustained while attempting a sexual act with a horse. The police investigation of the incident led to the discovery of a network of zoophiles who held communal gatherings at a local farm for the purpose of having sex with horses. At the farm, the police seized videotapes and DVDs that showed several men engaging in sexual acts with the resident Arabian stallions. At the time, Washington state had no laws concerning bestiality; in response to the case, the State Senate swiftly voted to criminalize bestiality in 2006. Animal cruelty charges were not filed against the participants because no evidence of injury to the horses was found. The videographer in the Pinyan incident, James Michael Tait, was charged with criminal trespassing.