A ban on bestiality was what state prosecutors and animal rights activists, seemed poised to finally become law this year.  Both Republicans and Democrats in both chambers of the Florida Legislature joined forces to push it through.  Yet it did not happen.

Lawmakers said they did not want to be accused of wasting time addressing a rare crime when Floridians needed them to help create jobs. They also did not want to debate this subject in public meetings where children might attend.

“The whole thing just kind of collapsed, unfortunately, and so we are back to square one,” said Nan Rich, the Senate’s incoming minority leader, who has tried since 2008 to close this loophole in the law.

News reports of Floridians having sex with animals are infrequent.

“While it is not something that we think is a widespread problem, Florida ought to be able to prosecute these cases when they do happen,” said Jennifer Hobgood, Florida State Director for the Humane Society of the United States.

Florida has an animal cruelty law, which prohibits tormenting or hurting an animal.  But apparently is is not as easy to prove that the sexual act tormented the animal as it would be to say it is illegal to have sex with an animal.

The Senate passed the measure twice, but it did not earn as much as a hearing in the House until this session. The ban was tucked into an agriculture bill, which passed in the House.

But the Senate passed a different agriculture bill on the last day of the session that would have allowed some gun owners to store their guns in their vehicles in previously exempted locations. The bill also added a fertilizer provision that would make it easier for localities to approve strict ordinances. With mere hours left before the session’s close, the House refused to take up the gun and fertilizer language, effectively slaying the agriculture bill.

A separate bill that addressed only bestiality never made it to the House floor.