Climate Alarmists are Coming for Our Dogs
Dogs are “environmental villains,” you guys.
“Bad News for Man’s Best Friend: Dogs Are Environmental Villains”
That’s the title Mother Jones gave to a reprint of an article from The Guardian by Donna Lu.
I’m an insane, crazy cat lady. The environmentalists have already attacked cats.
(Cats rule, by the way. I’m always threatening Professor Jacobson with a post all about cats and how they’re the greatest animal on the planet!)
But now I think the climate alarmists have gone too far. Describing dogs as “environmental villains” could be their undoing!
The Guardian focused on a recent study that claims dogs wreak havoc on the environment.
Basically, dogs could be the world’s undoing! Then again, they said that about cow farts and whatnot. We should also eat bugs!
Why do dogs suck so much? Because they act like nature intended, the same as cats:
The review, published in the journal Pacific Conservation Biology, highlighted the impacts of the world’s “commonest large carnivore” in killing and disturbing native wildlife, particularly shore birds.
In Australia, attacks by unrestrained dogs on little penguins in Tasmania may contribute to colony collapse, modelling suggests, while a study of animals taken to the Australia Zoo wildlife hospital found that mortality was highest after dog attacks, which was the second most common reason for admission after car strikes.
In the US, studies have found that deer, foxes and bobcats were less active in or avoid wilderness areas where dogs were allowed, while other research shows that insecticides from flea and tick medications kill aquatic invertebrates when they wash off into waterways. Dog faeces can also leave scent traces and affect soil chemistry and plant growth.
I say, keep your dogs on a leash and don’t let them get out.
Oh, wait. This “study” found a problem with that idea: “…they are implicated in direct killing and disturbance of multiple species, particularly shore birds, but also their mere presence, even when leashed, can disturb birds and mammals, causing them to leave areas where dogs are exercised.”
Cats vindicated, though: “However, data from wildlife care centres indicate that owned dogs are responsible for more recorded attacks on wildlife than cats (Holderness-Roddam and McQuillan 2014). Owned dogs (62%) have been recorded as catching a higher proportion of native animal prey in Australia than owned cats (47%), and also take larger prey (Franklin et al. 2021).”
Look, train your dog. If you are not patient or responsible enough to take all the necessary steps to raise a well-behaved animal, do not get one.
It’s why I do not have a dog. I do not have the patience to train or pay attention to a dog. I make sure my cats stay indoors. No outside for them at all!
If I ever got a dog, I’d choose a German Shepherd. They’re my favorite.
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The trouble with outdoor pets is that they don’t follow the Lotka-Volterra equation, the number of wolves vs the number of rabbits as they evolve.
A pet doesn’t run out of food and die when it reduces the wildlife population, because it keeps getting food at home, so there’s no check on how much it kills.
Domesticated animals kill far less and are less successful when they try because they aren’t as driven to survive on kills. This is just basic common sense and observation.
While I quit breeding Rottweiler’s, the way I raised puppies they all turned out to be loving, never any aggression with people. I often told delivery people that they didn’t need to worry, I had had already fed them. Many of the regular delivery people would bring treats and some times briefly play with them.
Although outside cats are known to go after rodents and birds, just where are you seeing all these dogs running free and attacking wild life??? Towns have leash laws, rural areas are allowed to protect live stock by shooting loose dogs. My dogs run free in my fenced in back yard. The birds perch in bushes or trees, while chirping angrily at the dogs getting too close to their nests 30″ in the air. Rabbits and chipmunks move outside the fence. What the heck is the problem???
Not legal in Alabama to kill any non game animal which isn’t posing an immediate threat to you. People still do it in rural areas but at the risk of all sorts of penalties; most common is loss of hunting and fishing license for several years plus a fine. Repeat offenders are looking at prison time. Same for trapping, can’t place traps/snares and not check them, isn’t ethical to leave an animal to suffer as some lazy ass property owners do.
Most rural states allow landowners to shoot any dog that attacks livestock. I have never seen feral dogs in the wilderness or rural areas. I have seen feral dogs in a few cities.
I should caveat, I have seen dingos in Australia. Those are feral dogs, but after 45,000 years, they are essentially part of the Australian ecosystem now and took the place of the thylacine.
Yes, others call them residents.
As with all Climate change hysteria there isn’t a problem. The entire movement is based on lies. in the 70’s we were going to push the world into a new Ice Age (even though we are still technically still in an Ice Age that is ending depending on what scientist you talk to.)
In the 80’s it was the ozone layer all the atmosphere was going to burn off of the earth. While the ozone science did have some Merit and actual science to back it up it was never nearly as big an issue as it was made out to be.
The 90’s brought us “Global Warming and the melting of the Ice Caps!” Which was all complete BS. Even back then the Ice caps were expanding or staying the same.
Then the 2000’s hit and somehow it was still Global Warming, but the Ice Caps melting kind of just disappeared.
Then then 2010’s through current. After everyone figured out that the whole Climate Emergency alarmism is complete manufactured BS we get; “CLIMATE CHANGE”. Which was made up because then they could blame anything on “Climate Change” and they could stick with that forever!
Climate Change is one of the most unscientific and moronic phrases. Of course the Climate is changing Karen, as it has for the entire history of the earth. Then they threw in things like the natural gasses that make up the earths atmosphere being somehow a problem.
So now what we have is Hotter than expected….Climate Change, Colder than expected….Climate Change, Raining more or less than expected…..Climate Change.
Hell they even try to blame the cyclic weather patterns on Climate Change. This area floods every 100 years or so…..Climate Change!
The last time someone wanted to debate me on Climate Change my response was simple. “If you believe that this wondrous creation of God (Which defies all mathematical probability of existing) couldn’t rake us off of its back like a minor case of flee’s. Well then I am not arguing with you. Here’s a quote to explain why. “Never argue with idiots, they bring you down to their level then beat you with experience.” I never can remember who said it, but it is very true.
One of my favorite authors, Robert Anson Heinlein.
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the “ozone layer” science did not take into account the degree or means of replenishment (which is a very polite way of saying someting else).
Sure there is — it’s called your fence.
Anything inside the fence is fair game — anything outside is free from predation.
It’s the same rule we humans use to “prey” on desert rattlers.
And at $40 per snakesicle, it’s not like we lack incentive to indulge in a little manifest destiny.
That’s a very simplistic and shallow understanding of that model and it’s limitations. Yes, I have a degree in Wildlife Biology and the relevant statistics. The model was one of the first things studied in the famous Isle Royal Moose/wolf population studies and lynx/snowshoe hare population rise and fall link.
Very strange that my 3:38 PM post is shadowbanned. I can’t see any reason for it. I also can’t see any indication of it in the URL bar. I bet this post here is going to be rejected for “replying to an unapproved comment.” Yup sure was.
Weird.
That happens to me as well, and when I log out my comment disappears along with several others.
Check the number of replies versus comments.
Something odd was going on for a bit. I made a direct reply to the first comment and it ended up as a stand alone several down the list for some reason. I don’t think it was aimed at you.
Or just give them all the finger and keep what you want.
A word of advice: bring weapons. (And First Aid.)
Come after my dog and you’ll eat lead.
That’s what these clowns don’t understand,..when they go after the family pet they are gonna get massive blowback
Perhaps but not necessarily. I had expected feminists to go nuclear when the Communists demanded that men be able to shower and change with women in the locker rooms. The opposite happened: many feminists rolled over because the Communists chanted the magic word “BIGOTRY!”
So I would not be surprised if a depressing number of lefty pet owners decided, “I gotta save the planet!” and put Fido down. For many leftists the urge to virtue signal triumphs over EVERYTHING.
It’s because those so-called feminists are communists first and foremost. They really don’t give a shit about women.
Most outspoken “feminists” are Marxists first, and trans nonsense is a key part of the current Marxist strategy. They want to force us to repeat the obvious, ludicrous lie that men can become women, so it will be easier to make us repeat the next lie.
So… what would the ideal earth look like to these environmentalists? For example, noting the apparent problems with cows, would any domesticated animals be acceptable?
Would humans be permitted to ‘farm’ insects for food, noting that,
“Research dating as far back as 1982 reports that, on a global basis, termites produce more than double the carbon dioxide produced by all the world’s smokestacks. That means that as warm weather enables termite population growth, termites could contribute to conditions that will further feed climate changes.”
Ideal earth for these people is no humans and probably no human domesticated animals.
That should be: no humans except for them. All humans not part of the weather cult being heretics that require extermination.
A people zoo for the peonage forced to work in mines/factories to provide basic goods. Maybe a small apartment off the factory floor for supervisors. The neo aristocracy will still have single family dwellings on the model of the squire and ranging upward in size/comfort with power.
The odd part is these lefty wokiesta knuckleheads always seem to assume that somehow they will be the masters of this utopia instead of being sent out, toiling in the fields, factories or mines.
Their endgame is the few elites having complete control over all decisions for the rest of society. The environmental movement has always been a Marxist power game.
The symbiotic relationship of humans and dogs helped start civilization. Cats…not so much. Dogs have masters, cats have servants.
Dogs initially helped with hunting and keeping wild predators away from settlements and livestock.
Cats, even before becoming domesticated, helped protect food stocks from rodents, and played an important role in the development of agriculture..
To a Dog you are a loyal, loving, and trusted companion. To a cat you are a member of the staff, usually one that needs a reprimand.
Cats remember that they were worshipped in Egypt. Dogs remember being cold, hungry, and alone.
So true
Cats did not get “domesticated” until the agricultural revolution. For good reason–people created an environment full of rodent vermin and cats were welcome in dealing with that problem.
My dog is an English Bulldog and she only attacks her food bowl. She also loves a nap any time anyone else wants one. They are a breed that doesn’t bite and other than snoring loudly and a little gas cause no issues. She’ll happily watch any TV program that I watch even though she is blind.
Now we need to abolish the ATF that much sooner.
In my experience, a good dog is a blessing like no other. If they are GSDs or Labs or Rotties, all the better.
Cats have decimated bird populations all over the world
To say dogs are a bigger threat is nuts
Unless your talking like places in Mexico that don’t care for their animals, let them run wild and starve…
……..and spread rabies.
BY the way I love cats, don’t get me
Wrong
Love them
I have two GSDs sitting next to my desk and our third GSD – a 6-mos puppy – is currently sitting in the crate because he’s an absolute wild man. After reading this article, I’m almost tempted to go get a fourth dog. But, this puppy might do us in. In any event, I’ve never seen a dog take a bird that wasn’t already injured and on the ground. They’re not cats with lightening reflexes and prodigious abilities to jump vertically.
Off topic: please. Give your GSDs ear scratches and tell them I send my best. The puppy? Maybe the adults can give guidance and it will settle down.
I am alone so having dogs is not a great idea. No one to keep them company if I need to shop or travel.
I have 3 dogs and I must keep one separated from the other 2. He’s just about 15 months , was abandoned at an apartment, left on the porch for at least 10 days. Tired to get animal control to take him, police, my husbands employees would feed him, but finally during a storm
We picked him up
Beautiful. Beautiful dog. Very wild acting initially , loves people . Not socialized. He can sit, lay, shake hands, but very reactive with animals on walks. Much better now. He was getting along with
My (.2 ) 14 year olds and the female would actually play some with him, but then my husband in his stupidity thought it would be a good idea to give all 3 a beef bone.
Well I guess the female tired to take his and all hell broke out.
It wasn’t just the initial fight, he wouldn’t stop. It was blood lust.
If I had a gun
I would
Have killed him
Needless to say, I have tried to rehome him, called all the nokill shelters.. he still here, Has his Pen, own yard. I had to take her in the ER.
I had to heighten the fence a few months earlier as he jumped it and got into it with a coyote, funny he didn’t have a scratch , but was on a 45 day quarantine.
He’s incredibly beautiful but needs a home where he is the only dog and probably no children. He just loves me , but this is too hard.
One thing we’ve learned breeding for 25 years: nothing civilizes a dog faster than living with a pack of civilized dogs. We typically have three adult retrievers in residence; when litters are born, it’s amazing how much “good manners” they don’t need to be taught, because they absorb them from the adults. Maybe you should get that fourth dog (hopefully pre-civilized).
As far as dogs taking healthy birds (chickens excepted)… our craziest b*h used to delight in jumping high in the air after dragonflies flying over our pool. She never caught any, and always landed in the pool. She was a constant source of laughs.
That has always been my experience as well. I’m hoping when he’s through this last little bit of teething, things will….relax. He chews up one more pair of my wife’s shoes, and I’m dunzo.
You have t seen Fred, my problem child dog. He can jump
Like no other . Probably 1/2 GS, 1/2 Pit, Snow White with black tipped ears like a tiger and a black spot on his left hip
Targa, we have an American Staffy, great dog, but a dedicated hunter.
She has taken at least two birds in the air. Needless to say we were not happy, but she keeps our place free of snakes.
Staffies and Malinois are probably the two feature exceptions to the rule. Both can really leap.
…my Cat presented me with a bird yesterday.
I’m pretty sure it was training on “See. This is how to hunt. Get on it. chop cop.”
Also, as an aside, I’d love to see a post from a staff member once a week on a random non political subject. Just something they would like us to know more about. Cats. Games. The best burger in [wherever]. Let us get to know the staff a little.
After my Mastiffs passed on I was without any pets for a.few months. Then a stray cat showed up, walked over to me on the porch and I’m pretty sure was complaining that ‘dinner was late’. About six weeks later a stray dog, mostly short haired German Pointer, started visiting. He was.very wary, took a couple of days to convince him it was OK to stay longer than for a meal, some play time and some scratches.
Both are now fast friends. They cooperatively hunt which is kinda odd. The cat is still an ambush hunter but lets the dog chase the squirrels or rabbits to his chosen ambush spot. So far this Spring they have racked up 5 squirrels and 2 rabbits keeping them out of my garden and little orchard.
Mary, dogs are better than cats, and that’s the end of the discussion.
With that said, cleared, and out of the way, I will take cats over climate crazies all year long.
Maybe it is time for cat people and dog people to unite against the crazies.
Depend on the cat. This one I have now has lots of canine social traits. My mailbox on the road is about 150 yards from my house. When my dog and I walk out to check the mail or drop off trash the cat follows along. In the first and last frisbee play time session with dog each day the cat comes over to watch/hang out. Its as if he’s declaring himself a member of the ‘pack’ but since he’s a cat its probably more like he is supervising the exercise of his minions.
Well you do know the difference between a Cat and a Climate Crazy, right?
Cats can be trained to use a litter box.
Good one!
My cat committed gopher-mole genocide. This was on a old orchard and he would eat their bellies and leave the remainder on the back porch.
Never once left a bird on the porch.
IMHO, cats are the most nearly perfect animals on the planet.
I love dogs (and they love me – when out walking, my GF says dogs react to me, “Look, it’s Dave! I’ve heard of him!”), but much prefer cats. They’re wonderfully self-contained.
Cut me a six figure check and my research will indicate cats are responsible for earthquakes if that’s what you want to hear..
Bingo!
Well come on down to the country. The pooch is alive and well and was here long before you. I can tell you that in whatever fashion you choose to leave the pooch will still be right here alive and well.
My dog finally caught a rabbit. Well the rabbit was “hiding” in some taller grass and my dog sniffed right up onto its cottontail. Both of them jumped about 2 foot in the air and sprinted in opposite directions. I don’t think she would know what to do if she actually did run a rabbit down.
If the greeny weenie Communists want to come after my dogs, they’ll have to come through me first. And I’ll just say the secret word which will tell the dogs to attack. And that’ll be the end of that, either they’ll run or they’ll get seriously mangled. In the end, I can say they threatened me and my dog’s protected me
Many people regard their pets as members of their families. G_d gave us dogs to show us how to act: love and loyalty. Visit a pet cemetery to see what I mean. The pet cemetery in Napa CA provides the perfect example. My cat was like a dog in many ways. He was unusual, and I miss him dearly. Now I have two Westies, which I treasure.
My advice to environmentalists: don’t mess with people’s pets. A bridge too far, and you won’t like what happens to you. Especially in Texas where one can use lethal force to protect property. The only state with this provision. Subject to limitations of course.
BTW. Many environmentalists don’t understand the carbon cycle. Only the legacy carbon in fossil fuels adds the the average CO2 atmospheric concentration. Otherwise carbon circulates between the oceans, the atmosphere and terrestrial bio mass.
Stay away from my precious pets. FAFO.
I will no more pet the bugs than I will eat them. Guardian and Mother Jones can piss right on off.
I would call these idiots “climate cultists.” I think that moniker more accurately reflects their totally irrational, march-in-lockstep fanaticism, more than “climate alarmists.”
Good post, as always; thank you.
The knuckle-dragging leftists cause far more environmental damage than all the world’s canines, not to mention bovines.
Science has gone to the dawgs after a healthy serving of gin and dei juice.
Every night in Australia, feral cats kill over 22 million native birds, rodents and insects.
I do not like cats, we have two dogs and they behave for the most part.
Cats have to be controlled.
The Guardian article is silent on whether the shore birds populations are in decline due to pet dogs.
IF it had addressed that obvious question, then I could ask whether they would be better off with wolves and wild dogs.
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