Back in 2014, the plight of Benjy, the gay bull from Mayo, hit the headlines after his owner said he would have the poor furry slaughtered due to his refusal to breed with cows.

Now RTÉ Radio have taken a trip down memory lane all the way to the farm to tell the four legged fellow’s story in the charming documentary Benjy The Little Gay Bull. 

Benjy first caught the attention of the public when his owner told The Connaught Telegraph that the bull preferred the company of another young male bull, expressing an interest in mating with his mate rather than the cows he was bought to breed with. A vet determined that the reason he could not inseminate other cows was because of his sexual orientation.

His irate owner, looking for some way to get back the money he had invested, said he would send the poor guy to the slaughterhouse. Both the public and animal rights groups were up in arms over the news and soon the #SaveBenjy campaign took off. A fund was started to try and raise enough money to ensure the bovine beaut would be saved from slaughter and live out his days in comfort, free to love whoever he desired.

The plot thickened when the story of the little gay bull captured the public attention to such a degree that the animal rights group PETA and Animal Rights Action Network (ARAN) informed Sam Simon, one of the producers of The Simpsons, of what fate had in store for Benjy.

Through money raised by the public and by Sam, Benjy’s salvation was in store. Sam shared at the time, “PETA told me about Benjy, and I felt compelled to help. 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. It thrills me to help PETA and ARAN make Benjy’s fate a sanctuary rather than a sandwich.”

Make sure to catch the story of the bull who charmed a nation on RTÉ radio.