Benjy, a gay bull in Ireland, was saved from the slaughterhouse this week by a crowdfunding campaign backed by an online gay magazine and Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons TV show.
According to the Associated Press, Simon is paying for the bull’s transportation to England, where he will live out the remainder of his life in an animal sanctuary.
The BBC reports that Benjy failed to impregnate any heifers on his County Mayo, Ireland farm. Instead, he seemed to be more attracted to the bull that was brought in to replace him. The farmer was going to send him to the slaughterhouse, until the Animal Rights Action Network (ARAN) got involved.
After ARAN picked up the story, The Gay UK, an online magazine, launched a crowdfunding effort to raise £5,000 for the bull’s safe transfer to an animal shelter. The campaign was ultimately successful in raising £9,000; £5,000 of it was donated by Simon himself.
Simon, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2012, told the BBC that he was happy “to make Benjy’s fate a sanctuary rather than a sandwich.”
“All animals have a dire destiny in the meat trade,” Simon said in a statement. “But to kill this bull because he’s gay would’ve been a double tragedy.”
Simon co-created The Simpsons with James L. Brooks and Matt Groening in 1989. According to the AP, Simon has been giving away most of his television fortune, and has donated to animal rights causes for years.
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