UCLA researchers say that meat-eating pets meat might have unexpectedly large effects on climate change.
Pets generate 64 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, UCLA geography professor Gregory Okin told NBC4 media partner KPCC.
"I'm definitely not recommending that people get rid of their pets or put them on a vegetarian diet, which would be unhealthy," Okin said.
The U.S. has an estimated 163 million dogs and cats, KPCC reported, and Okin said the pets would rank fifth in global meat consumption if they made up their own country.
