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ConnectedByPets.com

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A court opinion issued today means pet owners may finally be paid for claims filed due to the 2007 pet food recall.

Four years after pet food contaminated by poisonous melamine killed and sickened tens of thousands of cats and dogs in North America, a court opinion issued today may open the door at last to payment of claims by owners of affected pets.

The opinion by Judge Noel Hillman in U.S. District Court in New Jersey was the last piece of court action required to put to rest appeals of a $24-million pet food settlement approved by Hillman in October 2008.

“I am hopeful that we can begin processing claims shortly,” said Lisa Rodriguez, liaison counsel for the multiple class-action suits covered by the settlement.

According to court documents, 24,344 claims were submitted by the Nov. 24, 2008, deadline. Of those, 20,550 have been deemed payable. The average claim is about $1,283. Allowed expenses included medical attention, lost wages, property damage and the price of replacement pets. The settlement covers claims by owners in the United States and Canada.

Read more from the Veterinary Information Network.

The Audubon Society blog describes the bad news from the South Atlantic Ocean. A ship ran aground, endangering thousands of penguins that live in the area:

Wildlife rescuers are in a “race against time” to save up to 20,000 endangered rockhopper penguins doused in oil after a shipwreck off a South Atlantic archipelago last week. A cargo ship, the MV Oliva, ran aground on March 16. Its crew was rescued, but the accident left thousands of the distinctive birds, with their punk-rocker hairdos, coated in crude.

To read the remainder of the article and watch a video, click here.

Be sure to tell smheimburg you liked it here!

There are lots of great pet photos in our Photo Gallery... and throughout the year, we'll be featuring the best of the best. So come upload yours... it's free.

From the frontlines of America's no-kill movement with one of its most controversial leaders, to the jungles and hideouts of the world of reptile smugglers, to the redemption story of the decade -- no, not the one about Michael Vick; the one about his dogs.

That's just the first weekend of our Thirteenth Annual Chat Month, when we'll be joined by:

Redemption" author and No-Kill Advocacy Center director Nathan Winograd; more information here. (Friday, March 4, at 9:30 PM Eastern in The Auditorium)

Jennie Erin Smith, talking about her controversial new book, "Stolen World: A Tale of Reptiles, Smugglers, and Skulduggery"; more information here. (Saturday, March 5, at 5 PM Eastern in the kingsnake.com Chat Room)

A panel featuring pit bull rescuers and advocates who have rehabilitated and adopted former fighting pit bulls, including two of the Michael Vick dogs, Hector and Leo; more information here. (Sunday, March 6, at 8:00 PM Eastern in The Auditorium)

Discussing Amazon Tree Boas with Kathy Love and Mike Heinrich (Sunday, March 6, at 10 PM Eastern in the kingsnake.com Chat Room)

That's not all. Guests later in the month include the forces behind the "Austin Miracle," Dr. Ellen Jefferson and Ryan Clinton; Dr. Robin Downing, one of a handful of veterinarians to hold the Diplomate credential in the American Academy of Pain Management; Joe Pittman of the Florida Snakebite Institute; an expert on the impact to wildlife of the Gulf Oil Spill; veterinary critical care specialist Dr. Tony Johnson of Purdue University, talking about how to get out of the emergency clinic with your pet and your wallet intact; Animal Wise Network's Mike Fry; Maddie's Fund president Rich Avanzino; "Do Border Collies Dream of Sheep?" author Carol Lea Benjamin; and Tom Crutchfield, one of the reformed smugglers featured in "Stolen World." More guests are being added and confirmed every day!

This year, like last, we'll be bringing you our guests in live streaming audio, with a text-based chat room running simultaneously so you can ask questions and discuss the interview with other listeners.

New this year, we'll be streaming over the Animal Wise Network, a popular, successful 24/7 channel featuring original content and interviews about animals and animal issues.

Learn more about how to listen and participate here.

To keep up with additions to our guest list and any schedule changes, as well as to view links to archived chats if you're not able to listen live, watch this feed and follow us on Facebook or Twitter!

And if you're wondering about that logo in the upper right hand corner of this post, it's true; PetHobbyist.com is getting a name change! Please join us at the beta site for ConnectedByPets.com, and help us get up and running!

Scientists have found a new bird in Madagascar. Audubon Magazine’s blog emphasizes the importance of this discovery:

In western Madagascar, scientists surveying the area’s flora and fauna found a new bird: a forest-dwelling rail. Its size, plumage, and genetics differentiate it from its eastern cousin, making it unique to the Beanka Forest, an isolated and largely intact part of the country’s remaining western dry forests.

“This bird they’ve known about for decades, but no one has been able to go find it and get a specimen of it. It’s not a common thing at all, and it’s really hard to find,” said researcher Nick Block, a graduate student at the University of Chicago who is based at the city’s Field Museum.

Article continues here.

Be sure to tell crittercountry you liked it here!

There are lots of great pet photos in our Photo Gallery... and throughout the year, we'll be featuring the best of the best. So come upload yours... it's free.

It's a holiday made for the dogs. Wednesday, February 23, is International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day, and let me tell you, each "cookie" mine get, they do appreciate!

Here is an easy recipe from the Pit Bull Rescue Central blog today:

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour (you can use another type of flour if your dog is sensitive to wheat)
1 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth
1 1/4 cups hot water
Additional flour for rolling

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350° F
Mix dry ingredients together.
Mix in the peanut butter and hot water. You may need to add more flour if the dough is too sticky.
Knead the dough well.
Roll out the dough into 1/4" thickness and cut into shapes with dog cookie cutters.
Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet for 40 minutes. Turn off the oven and let them cool overnight.
After cooling, the cookies get very hard, just the way dogs like them!

They are good at room temp for a week, but can be refrigerated or frozen for longer storage.

Of course, you can go the easy route like me and stop at your local doggie bakery.

So, do you have a great recipe? We'd love to see it!

And check out a dog celebrating this holiday under the jump!

Continue reading "Is your dog ready for International Dog Cookie Day?"

In the hope of restoring the wild population of whooping cranes, wildlife officials plan to release young cranes in Louisiana. The Baltimore Sun tells their story:

Ten young whooping cranes raised in Maryland are taking to the air today, as federal wildlife biologists and technicians who've tended them since they were chicks release them in Louisiana to join the annual winged migration of their fragile species.

The gangly birds were reared at the U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, as seen in the photo above. Their "parents" were human caretakers wearing white crane-like costumes, who exercised them, took them for walks and swims and fed them as chicks using a bird puppet.

To read the remainder of the article, click here.