2023-12-14 15:34:21
Emotion among dog and cat owners.
François Gemenne: “The cat is a disaster for biodiversity, the dog is a disaster for the climate”
In fact, domestic animals actually contribute, despite themselves, to the loss of biodiversity and climate change. Their food, most of the time (kibbles, pâtés, etc.) is industrial, comes from energy-intensive production that emits greenhouse gases. A study carried out in the USA in 2017 and cited by our colleagues from futura-sciences, estimated that each year, feeding cats resulted in the release of 64 million tonnes of C02 into the atmosphere in the USA alone. However, we know that C02 is considered one of the main vectors of global warming. Another study, this time from Australia, reaches the same conclusions.
Should we conclude that cats and dogs are “a catastrophe” for the planet, as François Gemenne indicates? “Stop demonizing cats,” thunders Gaïa, indicating in particular that a study in another country logically concerns different ecosystems. Its effects, therefore, should not be generalized.
Contacted, its director of operations, Sébastien De Jonge, denounces a “somewhat simplistic vision of things.” The former director of Sans collar, who insists on the fact that he does not pretend to take himself for the scientist that he is not, considers it tendentious to accuse cats and dogs of being responsible for the drop in biodiversity and the increase in global warming, while human activities are the main cause. “Certain cats and dogs contribute but certainly not to the same extent as men,” explains Sébastien De Jonge. The researcher (Editor’s note: François Gemenne) says that we deforest for food for cats and dogs but, very often, the latter find in their bowls cereal and animal remains that men do not want to eat.
In summary, we do not raze forests only to create fields of cereals for feeding cats and dogs but above all for feeding human beings. Directly such as cereals (breads, pasta, etc.) or indirectly for the breeding of animal meats (beef, pork, etc.). “Obviously, cats and dogs consume, but that only represents a tiny part of what humans consume. It is the functioning of society that is destroying the planet, not dogs or cats. Furthermore, to do this to dogs and cats is to deny the benefits (Editor’s note: fight against loneliness, reduction of stress, etc.) that they bring.
In the end, believes Sébastien De Jonge, François Gemenne’s exit would lack context. “The cat, especially domestic because it has partly lost its hunting instinct, is far from being the primary factor in the reduction of biodiversity. It is a shortcut to assert the opposite. The first enemy of biodiversity is human activity.”
When asked whether it was necessary to limit the number of domestic animals in homes, Sébastien De Jonge agreed… but only for the sake of animal welfare. “Having 25 cats in a 30 m² apartment makes no sense. It is harmful to their health. And if we really want there to be fewer cats and dogs for the benefits of biodiversity, let’s start by stopping considering them as consumer products that we can abandon when we get tired of them: let’s regulate the sector breeding which floods the market and creates an overpopulation of dogs and cats. Instead, let’s promote the adoption of the 70,000 animals that pass through shelters each year.”
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