13th January - Dogs Today; Environmental impact of pets; the big freeze; Que reader

Dogs Today; Environmental impact of pets; the big freeze; Que reader

There is an interesting question on the Dogs Today Think Tank. Because of her concerns about environmental impact, the writer is anxious to avoid feeding her dog on food which could be eaten by humans. I think this is unusual because most pet owners want to feed their pets on the best available human-style food.

On that topic, perhaps the writer had read Leo Hickman’s article in the Guardian a few weeks ago in which he argued that pets have a high environmental impact and so should only be given low quality food unfit for human consumption. Pets in affluent societies do have a cost to the environment, perhaps even greater than humans in undeveloped countries but they also make a positive contribution to society. After all, they are companion animals. I suspect Leo Hickman doesn’t have any pets.

Our water supply was frozen the other day. We have our own borehole and the water is stored in an outside tank. I explained to Cled, our Maintenance supremo, how the last time I had cured it with a kettle of hot water poured over the pipe on the side of the tank. He’s nothing if not resourceful so he p****d on the pipe and got it going.

I’ve never seen so many birds in our garden but I’m not particularly pleased. The severe weather and hunger are driving them in and we are seeing species we wouldn’t expect to see. My neighbour has had snipe and we have had lapwing and redwing. Lots of birds are being killed on the roads because they are not used to traffic. I picked up an injured redwing and took it home but it died shortly after.

Yesterday’s Guardian had a piece “In praise of…the Que reader.” This is an electronic book/reader which has been pioneered by two Cambridge professors. The article praises the innovation at the heart of the technology. My nephew Seamus Burns is one of the development team.

info@burnspet.co.uk