The internet will potentially lose one of its main sources of bestiality videos under a ban approved by the upper house of the Dutch Parliament.

The new law bans human sex with animals, including in private situations where the animals are not injured, a summary of the law posted on the upper chamber's website said.

Sex with animals had been legal in the Netherlands, as long as it could be proven the animals were not injured.

The law also prohibits the production or distribution of animal pornography.

Given the illicit nature of the product, precise figures on animal pornography video sales are difficult to find.

The Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad found in a 2007 survey that distributors in the Netherlands were responsible for some 80 per cent of bestiality videos worldwide.

The bill was introduced in April 2007 and passed the lower house in July 2008, but took time to make its way through the upper house to final approval. It was not immediately clear how soon the law would go into effect.

-Reuters