Two bits of necessary backstory before we begin:
- Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons, was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer in 2012, and is on a quest to give away his fortune — in the hundreds of millions of dollars– before he dies. Simon is a passionate advocate for animal rights, so a substantial chunk of that money is going to animal-related causes.
- There’s this Irish bull named Benjy. Apparently Benjy is a lot more interested in trying to mate with other bulls than cows, which, I mean, as a lifestyle choice is perfectly fine. (It’s 2014. Some bulls are gay now. Get over it.) The problem is that Benjy’s owner on the farm did the math and realized that a bull that won’t breed would only be valuable, from a monetary perspective, to a slaughterhouse. So that became the plan. But then animal rights group in Europe and a newspaper aimed at the gay community picked up the story and developed their own plan: Raise enough money to purchase Benjy and let him live out the rest of his life at an animal sanctuary.
I think you see where this one is headed. Earlier this week, Simon ponied up all of the £5,000 (about $8,000) the groups had stated as their original goal. And when you add it to the money they had raised before Simon’s donation, it brings the total to something like £9,000 (and counting) in less than a week, ensuring, presumably, that Benjy will live a life of luxury until his time on the planet reaches its natural conclusion.
This is a nice story. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find someone from Netflix to pitch them an animated series called Benjy The Wealthy Gay Irish Bull.
Source: BBC
