WELLINGTON, New Zealand - December 20, 2009 - Man's best friend could be one of the environment's worst enemies, according to a new study which says the carbon paw print of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle.
But the revelation in the book Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living by New Zealanders Robert and Brenda Vale has angered pet owners who feel they are being singled out as troublemakers.
The Vales, specialists in sustainable living at Victoria University of Wellington, analyzed popular brands of pet food and calculated that a medium sized dog eats around 164 kilos (360 pounds) of meat and 95 kilos (209 pounds) of cereal a year.
Combine the land required to generate its food and a medium sized dog has an annual footprint of 0.84 hectares (2.07 acres) - around twice the 0.41 hectares required by a 4x4 driving 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) a year, including energy to build the car.
To confirm the results, the New Scientist magazine asked John Barrett at the Stockholm Environment Institute in York, Britain to calculate eco-paw prints based on his own data. The results were essentially the same.
"Owning a dog really is quite an extravagance, mainly because of the carbon footprint of meat," said Barrett.
Cats have an eco-footprint of about 0.15 hectares, slightly less than driving a Volkswagen Golf for a year, while two hamsters equate to a plasma television and even the humble goldfish burns energy equivalent to two mobile telephones.
But Reha Huttin, president of France's 30 Million Friends animal rights foundation, says the human impact of eliminating pets would be equally devastating.
"Pets are anti-depressants, they help us cope with stress, they are good for the elderly," Huttin told AFP. "I don't want a life without animals," she told AFP.
But the Vales say the best way of compensating for that paw or claw print is to make sure your animal is dual purpose. Get a hen, which offsets its impact by laying edible eggs, or a rabbit, prepared to make the ultimate environmental sacrifice by ending up on the dinner table.
"Rabbits are good, provided you eat them," said Robert Vales.
Ed. Note: Until someone provides independently corroborated scientific proof that carbon dioxide emissions are a major cause of global warming and environmental damage to our planet, this represents just another attempt by misinformed do-gooders to dictate how you should live. I believe personal freedom is more important than collectivism; that the individual’s right to self-determination trumps the collective’s desire to force everyone to live a certain way.