They Sure Do Love Their Animals in Washington State

How lonely do you have to be to do this:

PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. -- Investigators said 26-year-old, Michael Patrick McPhail may be the first person to face prosecution in Washington State under a new law protecting animals from sexual abuse.

According to charging documents, McPhail’s wife told Pierce County sheriff’s investigators she saw him engage in a sex act with the family pet.

Sherriff’s investigators said she took two photographs with a cell phone camera, then contacted police.

“There's pretty clear proof what happened to this dog and it something that's against the law, and we arrested him and the prosecutor's office charged him, so we'll see how this law stands up,” Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said.

And how'd this new law come into being?

The law was written following a highly publicized incident in Enumclaw in which a man died in a similar incident involving a horse.

Washington State - where men are men and sheep are nervous.