How your pet is killing the planet (Enviro-nuts say dog = SUV)

Salon ^ | 10/26/09 | Andrew Leonard

[Callahan]

New book -- "Time to Eat the Dog" -- claims golden retrievers have the same carbon footprint as SUVs

As provocative titles go, "Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living," is a doozy, guaranteed to ensure outrage and oodles of provocative blog post headlines. As summarized in The Telegraph, New Zealand-based authors Robert and Brenda Vale have calculated the carbon footprint of pet-ownership and arrived at some disturbing conclusions.

A medium-sized dog has the same impact as a Toyota Land Cruiser driven 6,000 miles a year, while a cat is equivalent to a Volkswagen Golf....

[The authors] base their findings on the amount of land needed to grow food for pets ranging from budgerigars to cats and dogs.

They say an average Collie eats 164kg of meat and 95kg of cereals a year, giving it a high impact on the planet.

[Callahan]

This should cause some internecine war between the eco-loons and the animal rights nuts while effectively alienating normal people who prefer to pet rather than eat their Golden Retriever.

[reagan_fanatic]

I have two dogs now. I think I’ll go out and buy another.

[La Lydia]

My dog weighs 5 pounds. I have to assume that she has the same carbon footprint as a lawn mower. And I’m not giving her up.

[myfreepress]

Holly Cow! Oh better watch my use of Cow, I might get sued by one. :)

What is happening to our Country?

[HerrBlucher]

I didn’t know the planet was alive.

[Allegra]

Planet-killers. ;-)

[Judith Anne]

My dog has the same carbon footprint as an 18 wheel semi, minimum.

[FourPeas]

So....humans are polluting the planet by breathing, and dogs have the same carbon footprint as an SUV. Perhaps we should just nuke the whole planet and let the cockroaches take over. I wonder what the carbon footprint of a cockroach is?

[marlon]

I think I’d like your dog!

[RC2]

These people need to get a job and find something to do. I just purchased a GSD and I ain’t giving her up. She’s almost as good as a gun, only with a personality.

[shibumi]

I feed my dog Enviro-Nuts.

Crunchy, beefy flavored, full of protein Enviro-Nuts.

[LasVegasMac]

My dog has the same carbon footprint as an 18 wheel semi, minimum.

Marmaduke!

What is wrong with these people?

[Paladin2]

‘Rats continue to kill Planet.

[Judith Anne]

Well, I don’t recommend a mastiff to a novice dog owner, but they are very lovable.

[Paladin2]

"She’s almost as good as a gun,"

A dog makes a pretty good fire control officer.

[Dr. Ursus]

I was in New Zealand last year.If I would have known the authors then,I would have killed and eaten them. I could
then claim their carbon offsets!

[Judith Anne]

No, not a Great Dane, although they resemble them, when they’re young. A mastiff. As adult dogs they look more like tanks.

[Slings and Arrows]

[Scythian]

1 in 10 Dog Owners Infected with their pets worms ...

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/87767.php

[hometoroost]

They’ve got their 15 minutes of fame and by the way it’s not their conclusions that are disturbing - it’s them.