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Comparing dogs to cars, environmentally speaking

by GARY CHITTIM / KING 5 News

Bio | Email | Follow: @gchittimK5

KING5.com

Posted on November 2, 2009 at 7:22 PM

Updated Monday, Nov 2 at 7:22 PM

SEATTLE - Dog owners are reacting with giggles to a new report that dogs create a larger ecological footprint than an SUV.

The study by Robert and Brenda Vale, two sustainable-living researchers from New Zealand, bases its claim mostly on what dogs eat.

The study says the land it takes to produce the 360 pounds of meat and 210 pounds of grain a medium-sized dog consumes each year, is twice as much land that would be required to produce the energy to power an SUV for a year.

Some local researchers are snickering at the premise and its narrow scope.

Most dog owners we spoke to at a Seattle dog park laughed it off as goofy science.

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Comments: Displaying 1 - 5 of 5

golden said on November 3, 2009 at 6:06 PM

My dog is smarter than most Humans and it just bothers them that I own a SUV to pack my Dog around in...Whaa So when ya see me taking off slow at a light...Yes that is probably me cruising around with my dog.

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shedboy said on November 3, 2009 at 5:48 PM

Hmmm..now that you mention it. My neighbors have 4 big dogs in a big pen. I see the owners packing off a 5 gallon bucket of dog poop several times a day....that can't be good for the environment. Lets see, roughly 1/2 pound per turd, times four equals 2 lbs of poop per 'movement' (lol!) times, what...3 "movements" per day equals 6 pounds of dog poop per day or 12 turds. Times 365 days and you have a grand total of 2190 lbs or 4380 turds. And since that leaves their property and goes 'somewhere"..there is a massive pile of poop thats melting Antartica near my house....or at least turning that spot into a toxic waste zone. Personally, I think 99% of todays dog owners have NO BUSINESS owning a pet. It requires being responsible, and thats a lost art.

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beren said on November 3, 2009 at 1:55 PM

And.. what about the carbon footprint to PRODUCE the SUV? The fuel used to ship all the raw materials to the factory? The fuel used by all the employees of the corporation to drive to work everyday? How about all the materials and energy used to create a vehicle? How about the environmental impact when the thing is junked? hello? logic? anyone home?

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collegeguy said on November 2, 2009 at 8:38 PM

Ha ha, I call crack pot on these two jokers. Has anyone read the report? If you read it is is full of truth based on the broad aspect of feeding us humans but places the blame on pets instead. But there is more than just the feeding of animals they talk about, they bring up how dogs and cats pooping in or near streams cause massive pollution... but every animal does that already, not just dogs and cats. And how areas where dogs are, there are fewer species of birds, impacting the diversity of wildlife... yet for what they claim, it could just as easily be attributed to the presence of humans as opposed to the dogs for the reasons the birds are not as present. These two crack pots practice what is called "junk" science.

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blankingout said on November 2, 2009 at 8:06 PM

Ha ha, don't forget the ice caps on Mars are also shrinking and there aren't people, dogs or cars there!

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