I was having the dinner, reading this week’s suckler climate change article and the dog started pawing at me for scraps. That got me thinking.

After doing a bit of digging I quickly realised that it’s not just our suckler cows that should be reprimanded for their effect on the environment. A study published last year by the UCLA showed that US dogs and cats are responsible for 25-30% of the environmental impact of animal agriculture there. Dogs’ and cats’ animal product consumption contributes 64m tonnes of greenhouse gases in the US annually – the same as 13m cars.

Down in New Zealand, a book published at the turn of the decade with the eyebrow-raising title Time to Eat the Dog calculated that a medium-sized dog has twice the ecological footprint of an SUV.

Now, do I get rid of Rover, my cows or the farm jeep?

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