It was around dawn in Westland, Michigan, when, stirred by the sound of growling, a 10-year-old girl got out of bed and went to investigate. She suspected her mother's boyfriend, 34-year-old David Thomson, was playing video games. She saw Thomson. He wasn't playing video games. He was having sex with her dog, Sparkles.

The girl woke her mother, who, she later told police, also witnessed the coitus. The next day, Sparkles was brought to a local Humane Society, where examination results prompted the woman to report her now ex-boyfriend's crime. Thomson was arrested, charged with sodomy involving a dog and released on bail. While awaiting trial, he was ordered to stay away from Sparkles.

Talking to the press, former police Sgt. Laura Moore said that she'd seen guy-screwing-dog stories repeatedly. Chickens, too. "There was one case," Moore added, "involving a man and a boa constrictor."

» Scott Saxon