Pets contribute to climate cat-astrophe
Kiwi pet owners are waking up to an inconvenient truth: their meat-eating cats and dogs are causing a major carbon paw-print.
A new United States study found that feeding meat to companion dogs and cats accounted for about 64 million tonnes of greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide. This has the same effect as driving 13.6 million cars for a year.
Grey Lynn resident Jenny Knight has been a cat lover since she was eight but only recently considered the environmental impacts of owning five cats and a rabbit.
Her family spend at least $100 on a large bag of dry food every two weeks and they occasionally buy tinned food for their cats.
According to the New Zealand Companion Animal Council, 64 per cent of households had at least one pet. The US rate was 65 per cent.
‘‘As pet ownership increases in some developing countries, especially China, and trends continue in pet food toward higher content and quality of meat, globally, pet ownership will compound the environmental impacts of human dietary choices,’’ report author Gregory Okin, a UCLA geographer, said in his findings.
Knight said she would be open to feeding her pets environmentally friendly food if it became available. But she would be willing to make compromises in her own life to balance the impact of the food her cats Midnight, Emma, Claire, Bill and Darling ate.
‘‘Having cats has enhanced our lives and we want what is best for them,’’ Knight said.
The Opportunities Party leader and notorious cat loather Gareth Morgan said the problem was about carbon emissions as a whole rather than just one activity.
‘‘I think it’s all about getting your carbon footprint lower across the board,’’ he said.
Companion animals were important to a lot of people and if their pets were their priority, then they would be prepared to pay more for the carbon emissions.