Kenyan official says male lions who had sex 'must have seen gay men behaving badly' and should be separated

The country's 'moral policeman' Ezekial Mutua says the animals must have been inspired by seeing gay men and should receive therapy

Two lions spotted in a gay sexual encounter must have seen a homosexual couple "behaving badly" in their park and should be separated and given counselling, an official in Kenya said.

The animals were photographed after one mounted the other in a secluded bush area of the Masai Mara game reserve in the south-west of the African country.

Ezekial Mutua, the chief executive of the Kenya Film Classification Board, said the pair must have been influenced after they viewed a human same sex couple.

He claimed that was the only explanation for their “bizarre” behaviour, on the basis that lions don't watch TV or movies to see such acts there.

But he added it was also possible that they were driven by evil forces, saying that “demons also possess animals”.

Mr Mutua is an infamous figure in Kenya, dubbed the country's "moral policeman" for his controversial and often anti-LGBT public statements. He has in the past banned "pro gay" movies and cartoons – because he believed it “glorifies” such relationships.

He spoke out over the two gay lions after seeing photos of the pair in a rare display of such behaviour captured by wildlife photographer Paul Goldstein.

He told the Nairobi News: “We do not regulate animals, but this is a first and interesting to hear that there are two male lions in love. Some research needs to be done.

"And also I wish I can get the bio to confirm the two lions were actually male, because it is not normal.”

He added: “These animals need counselling, because probably they have been influenced by gays who have gone to the national parks and behaved badly. I don’t know, they must have copied it somewhere or it is demonic. Because these animals do not watch movies.”

Mr Mutua argued that homosexuality was caused by evil spirits and hinted that the gay lions could also have been possessed by the same source.

He said: “The demonic spirits inflicting in humans seems to have now caught up with animals.”

Gay sex between lions is rare but not unheard of and happens elsewhere in the animal kingdom.

Some biologists claim same-sex relations have been spotted in 1,500 different species, and reliably recorded in a third of these cases – or roughly 450 species.