‘Simpsons’ Co-creator Saved Gay Bull from Slaughter

No, it’s not a metaphor or a future storyline: Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons, actually saved a real, live, gay bull from the slaughterhouse.

To be fair, it was the charitable donations of many that saved Benjy the Bull from graduating from Bovine University, but £5,000 of it came from Simon.

Hailing from County Mayo in Ireland, Benjy was set to literally be turned into mince meat after it became clear he was more interested in bumping rump roasts with other bulls than mounting a maiden.

When word of his imminent demise hit the interwebs, gay and animal rights activists banded together to launch a campaign to save Benjy.

The Crowdfunder was started by Gay UK, an online daily magazine for the gay community, after Benjy’s plight was featured in the Connaught Telegraph, and was also picked up by the Animal Rights Action Network (ARAN) in Ireland. In less than a week, the campaign raised over £9,000, including the donation by Mr. Simon, who, after a cancer diagnosis in 2012, has been giving away his fortune to numerous worthy causes.

“All animals have a dire destiny in the meat trade, but to kill this bull because he’s gay would’ve been a double tragedy,” Simon said in a statement.

Benjy will now be transported to Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Norwich (as opposed to Hillshire Farms) with the extra funding ensuring his lifelong welfare, according to John Carmody of ARAN.

For the record, to quell any naysayers (or neighhhh-sayers… these animals jokes doing anything for you?) homosexual behavior has actually been observed in over 1,500 animal species, including lions, cheetahs, bats, and penguins. The last example is probably the most obvious, as our flightless friends are famously fashionable.

[via BBC News]