Adam Britton, a leading zoologist who has worked on BBC and National Geographic productions, pleaded guilty to 56 charges relating to bestiality and animal cruelty.

He also admitted to four counts of accessing child abuse material.

The Northern Territory (NT) Supreme Court heard the 53-year-old filmed himself torturing the animals until almost all died, and then shared the videos online under pseudonyms.

His abuse went unnoticed for years, until a clue was found in one of his videos. Britton was arrested in April 2022 after a search of his rural Darwin property, which also uncovered child abuse material on his laptop.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    5 months ago

    I didn’t say don’t put the dog part in the headline, I said put both in the headline. “He’s also a pedophile” shouldn’t be something that people need to keep reading to find out about.

    • kandoh@reddthat.com
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      5 months ago

      Why? The term itself has become almost totally devalued after a decade of conservatives labeling everyone with it. When I see the word now I just think it identifies the information as clickbait or propaganda.

    • Zozano@lemy.lol
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      5 months ago

      Being a paedo is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. CSAM is illegal, rightfully so, but the CSAM videos weren’t produced by him.

      The amount of suffering produced directly by Britton vastly outweighs the suffering he caused by potentially redistributing the CSAM videos.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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        5 months ago

        Most parents would disagree with you about people who sexually abuse children being inconsequential.

        • Zozano@lemy.lol
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          5 months ago

          Within the context of what I’m saying, Britton didn’t film the CSAM videos. Making CSAM and possessing it are very different in terms of suffering produced.

          Sharing CSAM potentially encourages the creation of more, and further objectifies the victims without consent which is obviously abhorrent.

          But however abhorrent this is, it is inconsequential compared to the suffering Britton inflicted directly.

          Even still, I will reiterate, the direct experience of those poor dogs is leagues more horrific than your average child molestation. If you disagree, you evidently don’t know exactly how fucked up Britton was and/or have a species bias.

            • sandbox@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              Americans are way too obsessive with this stuff imo, images of naked kids aren’t inherently sexual, it’s only a problem if they’re sexualised. Yeah obviously you shouldn’t post your pics of your kids online, clothed or not, but I don’t see any problem at all of having a pic of your baby’s first bath or whatever. It’s entirely normal.

              • aidan@lemmy.world
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                5 months ago

                Um, I think its kinda justified given the number of blatant and open pedos I’ve encountered in Europe. (And I have no clue why they feel the need to talk to me about it.) Something I’ve never encountered in the US. Not saying pedos don’t exist in the US, but at least the US culture is such that they’re more quiet about.

                Also Wtf:

                “A few years later, Germany’s newly established Green Party, which brought together antiwar protesters, environmental activists, and veterans of the student movement, tried to address the “oppression of children’s sexuality.” Members of the Party advocated abolishing the age of consent for sex between children and adults.”

                • sandbox@lemmy.world
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                  5 months ago

                  Having a culture where people aren’t safe to seek medical or therapeutic support to get help with dealing with their psychiatric or mental issues isn’t helpful. It seems like it would be better for people to be open and admit they’re attracted to minors and get help with it rather than keeping it a secret. Not to mention the fact that none of this comment has anything to do with my point, unless you think that a person having a couple completely innocent nude photos of their kids means they’re a pedophile.

                  The whole damn world has an insane moral panic going on about child abuse and it’s extremely unhelpful for actually dealing with the issues that cause it or dealing with the consequences. I say that as a survivor of sexual abuse as a child. I felt basically unable to speak to anyone about it because of all the stigma around it.

                  • aidan@lemmy.world
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                    4 months ago

                    Having a culture where people aren’t safe to seek medical or therapeutic support to get help with dealing with their psychiatric or mental issues isn’t helpful.

                    Having a culture where it is not discouraged is worse.

                    It seems like it would be better for people to be open and admit they’re attracted to minors and get help with it rather than keeping it a secret.

                    It is not told to me out of “seeking to recover” intent… It is out of either seeking others into it, or hoping I was minor.

                    unless you think that a person having a couple completely innocent nude photos of their kids means they’re a pedophile.

                    Nah usually not, but sometimes they are. I was just talking more generally.

                    I felt basically unable to speak to anyone about it because of all the stigma around it.

                    That sucks, but the stigma I’m advocating is directed at the perpetrators, not the victims.

            • Zozano@lemy.lol
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              5 months ago

              I don’t know what to make of this, because I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having pictures of your naked baby/toddler if you’re taking the pictures from a parental perspective.

              It becomes an issue when you show them to someone who wouldn’t normally see that baby naked, or send them over the internet.