Mark Zuckerberg’s Cockamamie Cattle Project Prompts PETA to Launch National Empathy Plan

For Immediate Release:
January 11, 2024

Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382

Prompted by Mark Zuckerberg’s out-of-touch announcement that he and his family, including his young children, have begun raising cows to be killed for their flesh on his ranch in Hawaii, PETA is rolling out a nationwide platform that empowers people not to think of all living, feeling beings as there for the taking, to dominate and exploit, but to recognize the similarities in everyone around them rather than their differences in nationality, religion, gender, or species. Called “Every Animal Is Someone,” it draws attention to the fact that humans are just one animal among many, and PETA notes that in these times of war, climate catastrophe, and increasing polarization, our world needs empathy for all.

PETA’s new Empathy Kits—designed for the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world, who urgently need a lesson in being considerate—are being sent to the family at their ranch in the hope that his daughters will read the lessons about empathy in them. To quote Henry Bergh, who founded the first SPCA in the United States and prosecuted the first cases involving cruelty to children and animals, “If you teach a child to be kind to a mouse, you do as much for the child as you do for the mouse.”

“Every Animal Is Someone” asks people to exchange hate and fear for empathy by looking into the eyes of the individuals around them—whether a cow staring down the slaughterhouse knife, a displaced person, or a lonely neighbor—and recognize that each one experiences love, grief, joy, pain, and the desire to stay alive and that each one of us has inherent worth. That message will be incorporated into all that PETA does and will include a TV spot titled “Seeing Eye to Eye,” which will begin airing in Zuckerberg’s home state of Hawaii on January 12 and, later, in cities across the country.

“The world is in urgent need of more empathy, and that begins with seeing the individual, understanding that we’re all animals, and realizing that every animal is someone, with each one of us deserving of respect,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “In 2024, PETA is calling on everyone, including billionaires who often feel everything and everyone exists for their use, to help build a more compassionate world for all.”

The campaign, which builds on PETA’s motto that “animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way,” will include celebrity videos, starting with a Super Bowl ad starring Edie Falco. PETA plans to send Empathy Kits to other public figures and world leaders who need guidance on how to open their hearts to others and has made them available to download here for people to share with relatives who eat meat, neighbors who chain their dogs outside 24/7, coworkers who carry crocodile-skin bags, and anyone else who needs a step-by-step guide to understanding others’ perspectives and experiences.

PETA is also sending Zuckerberg a letter asking him to see cows for who they are—individuals who mourn the deaths of their loved ones and devoted mothers who form deep bonds with their calves and search frantically after their babies are taken away from them to be sold as veal or beef—and send the cows on his ranch to a sanctuary instead of exploiting them for food.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.