Which U.S. states, if any, currently have no explicit felony statute prohibiting bestiality (as of 2025)?
Executive summary
As of reporting in January 2025, animal-law watchdogs and legal trackers report that only West Virginia lacks an explicit state statute banning sexual acts with animals; the Animal Legal Defense Fund stated “West Virginia is the only remaining state that doesn’t ban bestiality” [1]. Several legal compilations and academic summaries concur that every other state has some statutory prohibition or related sanction on the books [2] [3].
1. The simple answer: West Virginia stands alone
The Animal Legal Defense Fund’s January 30, 2025 statement says plainly that West Virginia is the only state without an explicit statutory ban on bestiality [1]. Multiple legal surveys and an academic map compiled in recent years likewise identify West Virginia as the outlier: reviews of state statutes conclude that “all states except West Virginia now have statutes that impose sanctions for sexual acts with animals” [2] and detailed tables of state animal sexual assault laws catalog prohibitions across the country [3].
2. What “no explicit statute” means in practice
Having no statute that literally names and criminalizes bestiality does not always leave investigators without options. The Animal Legal & Historical Center notes that where explicit antibestiality statutes do not exist, prosecutions can sometimes proceed under broader animal-cruelty, obscenity, or related criminal laws — though those laws vary by state and may not carry felony penalties [3]. Available sources do not specify whether West Virginia prosecutions have consistently been brought under alternative statutes; that detail is not found in current reporting [3] [1].
3. Why this changed: recent wave of state updates
The legal landscape shifted markedly during the 2010s–2020s as states updated cruelty codes and enacted targeted antibestiality language. For example, Wyoming — once listed among states lacking an explicit ban — enacted a bestiality ban in 2021 after a high-profile local incident, illustrating how isolated events and advocacy spur legislative change [4]. Academic reviews and advocacy groups report that these legislative updates reduced the list of states without explicit prohibitions to a single outlier by early 2025 [2] [1].
4. Disagreement and older reporting: check the date
Not all media and compilations agree at every moment because statutes changed quickly across states. Earlier reports and some non-expert lists (for example, summaries from 2022) named multiple states — including New Mexico, Hawaii and Wyoming — as lacking explicit bans [5]. Those older listings are now outdated in light of later legislative action [4] and the January 2025 ALDF statement; researchers must check the publication date of each source before relying on it [1] [5].
5. Severity of penalties varies widely
State laws that prohibit sexual conduct with animals are not uniform: some states classify the offense as a misdemeanor, others elevate it to a felony under particular circumstances (for example, if the act injures the animal, involves minors, or is a repeat offense) [3]. The Animal Legal & Historical Center’s table documents this variability and shows that statutory labels and penalty ranges differ dramatically from state to state [3]. Available sources do not provide a single, up-to-date list of which states treat the offense as a felony in every circumstance; that comprehensive comparison is not found in current reporting [3].
6. Advocacy pressure and the political context
Advocacy groups and public petitions have pushed for a uniform nationwide prohibition; change.org petitions and campaign materials highlighted that, as recently as late 2024, many lists said 46 states had explicit bans and urged action where gaps remained [6]. The Animal Legal Defense Fund’s public-facing work reflects an explicit agenda to eliminate statutory gaps; readers should note advocacy organizations both document legal gaps and press legislatures to close them [1] [6].
7. How to verify for your purpose
For legal certainty in a particular case — criminal charge, policy work or academic research — consult the current West Virginia statutory code and recent legislative history and compare it to up-to-date national compilations such as the Animal Legal & Historical Center’s state tables and ALDF analyses [3] [1]. Secondary outlets and older popular articles can be misleading because many states updated laws between 2020–2025 [5] [4].
Limitations: this analysis relies only on the supplied sources; the sources agree that West Virginia lacked an explicit antibestiality statute as of January 2025 [1] [2] [3]. If you need a line-by-line statutory citation or post‑January 2025 legislative developments, consult state codes or a current legal database.