The billionaire has announced his decision to become a rancher, only to immediately face backlash from animal and climate activists
FILE PHOTO. Wagyu cattle. © Getty Images / PA / Jens Büttner
Meta founder, Chairman and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has announced that he has become a rancher. The billionaire revealed his new passion project in an Instagram post on Wednesday, to a typically mixed reaction.
Zuckerberg said he has begun raising cattle at his Ko’olau Raunch, a multi-million-dollar compound in Kauai, Hawaii, in order to create “some of the highest quality beef in the world.” The billionaire said he will breed wagyu and angus cows, feeding them macadamia nuts and beer produced at the ranch.
“We want the whole process to be local and vertically integrated. Each cow eats 5,000 – 10,000 pounds of food each year, so that’s a lot of acres of macadamia trees,” Zuckerberg wrote, sharing photos of his daughters planting trees at the property.
Zuckerberg also posted a picture of himself enjoying a massive slab of beef, stating that ranching is his “most delicious” project to date. Describing the ranch as a hip one, however, has not spared the billionaire criticism, with an angry crowd showing up on his feed as well as spreading the news to other social media platforms to vent their anger.
Some attacked ranching from a climate change standpoint, insisting that cows produce way too many greenhouse gases.
Proud of you man, you really fulfilled that dream of putting food in your mouth in the manner that causes the most climate change possible for a human being https://t.co/x03Tey1WDF
— Andy Greenberg (@agreenberg at the other places) (@a_greenberg) January 10, 2024
Others blasted Zuckerberg’s dietary pick for his cows, condemning it as unethical or, at least, questionable.
Zuckerberg is raising the MUFA content of his cattle over SFA.To each his own. https://t.co/LWQKeTyWqi
— exfatloss🥛 (@exfatloss) January 12, 2024
Some took a more radical approach, insisting that eating meat must be dropped altogether, and that humanity should be vegan.
“Mark Zuckerberg says he’s now started raising cattle; at his property in Hawaii, feeding them beer, and then killing them. Mark, the Dark Ages called and it wants you back,” Shalin Gala, a senior PETA member, wrote.
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Others took a more lighthearted approach to the announcement, suggesting that years of Facebook experience will likely make herding cattle way easier for the billionaire.
