When I look at the current law and at the amendments that are proposed, there's certainly a degree of understanding in how animal fighting is conceptualized as a more systematic activity involving criminal behaviour. However, when it comes to bestiality, we seem to be sort of closing ourselves off. Perhaps it's due to the sexual nature of the activity, whereas we can relate more to dogfighting or other types of animal fighting as a sport, which is more common in our society.
When we actually look at bestiality, we see the proliferation of bestiality rings. People organize gatherings of bestiality. People trade videos and imagery of animals with sexualized content. There's a lack of acknowledgement that there's a broader social issue taking place here and that it has a systematic nature to it as well.
I very much agree that we need to examine—without hindering the movement forward of the bill—specifically the bestiality aspect to address these larger social concerns and the effect that they have on society.