A new book released by scientists from New Zealand claims that contrary to the popular belief, taking one's dog for a walk is not more environment friendly than packing into an SUV and driving off, as pets have a "carbon footprint" which is about twice the size of the "gas guzzling vehicles that have long been seen as the bane of environmentalists' existence".

The book, entitled "Time to Eat the Dog, the Real Guide to Sustainable Living", has been penned by Robert and Brenda Vale, and asserts that a medium sized dog has a footprint of about 2.1 acres, which is much higher when compared to a 1 acre footprint of a traditional SUV.

"There is no question but that pets do exert a claim on resources. Dogs and cats are carnivores so they consume meat, which means they live rather high on the food chains. Much higher than the typical person in the sense that most of us -- even those who are omnivorous -- eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and cereals and other things", said Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington.

To compare and further cement the results, the New Scientists magazine requested John Barrett at the Stockholm Environment Institute in York, Britain, to access these "eco-pawprints" based on the data that he collected independently, and results were exactly the same.

Complete analysis of carbon footprints of other animals, and further information, is available on the New Scientists website.