In honor of the upcoming Earth day I submit this gem from Physorg.com:
http://www.physorg.com/news176582720.html
An excerpt:
"In 'Time to Eat the Dog? The Real Guide to Sustainable Living,' authors Robert and Brenda Vale argue that resources required to feed a dog -- including the amount of land needed to feed the animals that go into its food -- give it about twice the eco-footprint of, say, building and fueling a Toyota Land Cruiser. Noting that a cat's pawprint was roughly equivalent to a Volkswagen Golf's, "New Scientist" (www.newscientist.com) asked an environmentalist at the Stockholm Environment Institute in York, U.K., to independently calculate animals' environmental impact, and reported that "his figures tallied almost exactly." .....'If you look at a large-size dog, they can live 10-14 years, and it certainly wouldn't surprise me," Don Jordan, director of the Seattle Animal Shelter and President of the Washington State Federation of Animal Care and Control Agencies, said of the study. "..........