By s.e. smith, Networx Those of us who are fond of the
environment and our pets sometimes feel like eco-traitors,
thanks to the periodic stories about how pets are ecologically
unsound and we’re singlehandedly responsible for global warming.
The actual news on pets and the environment is a bit more
complicated than some news stories might suggest; as Marion
Nestle put it in a takedown of the claim that feeding animals is
environmentally destructive, many of these studies are
relatively simple and don’t compensate for all the factors
involved. For instance, commercial pet food is made with
remaindered products, creating a use for scrap materials that
would otherwise need to be handled in some likely energy-
draining way. But the fact of the matter is that pets do have an
environmental footprint, and it can be quite large. Dogs and
cats can be destructive to the natural environment as well as
hazardous for native wildlife and plants. Those with medical
conditions can generate quite a footprint as they undergo tr