Benjy the ‘gay’ bull to be castrated at wildlife sanctuary
A ‘gay’ bull who was saved from the slaughter this month is facing castration at his new home.
A farmer in Ireland said earlier this month that he would send Benjy – who he had purchased as a breeding bull – to the slaughterhouse for showing more interest in other bulls than with cows.
A campaign to rescue him from the fate attracted some support online – though some were critical of spending money rehoming a bull instead of putting it towards human LGBT issues.
However, Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon – a renowned philanthropist who has given away “most” of his money – stumped up the full £5,000 cost of the fee to move Benjy to the Hillside Animal Sanctuary in Norwich.
Though the bull was saved, his gonads were not – and the animal will be neutered upon arrival, in the middle of next month.
Farmer John Watson told the Irish Sunday Independent: “He’ll be castrated. I know they say Benjy’s gay, but we won’t be taking any chances.
“Any animals that come here are neutered because we want to rescue animals in need, not breed them and fill up the sanctuary.”
“He will be the only gay bull in the sanctuary, but hopefully he won’t mind; cows tend to be laid back, they just live and let live.
“I understand that gay cows are not particularly rare, no rarer than in humans, but I can’t think of another particularly gay animal that we’ve had.
“He’ll have lots of friends, but I think he could end up with our friendly cows Clover and Bramble.
“We have lots of rescued cows due to neglect and different herds match different temperaments.
“If Benjy turns out to be quite timid, we wouldn’t put him into a herd where there’s a particularly dominant cow or bull.
“We’ll give him a big welcome and it’ll be a nice Christmas. He’ll stay right here in the sanctuary for the rest of his natural days and I’m sure he’ll be very happy.”
