An elderly British couple who fell in love with a bullock while on holiday in Ireland have paid more than £7,000 sterling to save his life and give him a new home in Britain.
Mrs Phyllis Brunsden (79) and her husband William (74), a retired artificial leg manufacturer, got friendly with the creature when they first saw him in a field next to their rented holiday bungalow near Tralee, Co Kerry.
They fed him treats of cabbage leaves and nicknamed him Ferdinand after a song about a dancing Spanish bull who would not fight. When they returned to Nottingham after their two-week break in June 1998, they could not bear the thought of Ferdinand going to an abattoir.
"When we got home I kept thinking of Ferdinand and the prospect of him being killed just to be turned into burgers for some fat slob to eat in a McDonald's," said Mrs Brunsden.
The couple, who belong to 20 animal charities, decided to give up eating beef because they had got so close to Ferdinand.
Mrs Brunsden astonished the farmer who owned Ferdinand by telephoning and asking to buy the Friesian, who was due to be slaughtered the following April.
The couple went back to Ireland for two weeks in June last year when they stayed in a guesthouse and visited their adopted pet to make sure he was all right. However, last month they decided to give Ferdinand a completely new life by arranging for him to be shipped over to the Hillside Animal Sanctuary near Norwich, Norfolk.
Describing her first meeting with Ferdinand, Mrs Brunsden said: "My husband and I have always loved animals and we were delighted when we saw the herd of about 50 bullocks in the field next to our isolated bungalow in Ireland. We bought cabbages from the local supermarket to feed them and noticed there was this particularly friendly one . . . He would come galloping towards us."
Mr and Mrs Brunsden, who have no children, have visited Ferdinand at his new home to feed him his favourite snack of carrots. "It was wonderful to see him again. I am sure he is going to be very happy and well cared for at the sanctuary," Mrs Brunsden said.