From The Bond: our kinship with animals, our call to defend them, by Wayne Pacelle[1]:

“On the night of September 6, 2007, Alex, a thirty-one-year-old African grey parrot, wished his trainer, Dr. Irene Pepperberg, good-night as usual.

“You be good, I love you,” said Alex.

“I love you, too,” Dr. Pepperberg replied.

“You’ll be in tomorrow?”

“Yes, I’ll be in tomorrow.”

The next morning, Dr. Pepperberg arrived to find Alex dead.

. . . . The Economist, which usually devotes its weekly obituary to statesmen and celebrities, devoted it instead to Alex, noting, “By the end, Alex had the intelligence of a five-year-old child and had not reached his full potential.”

Wayne’s book is a true gift for us all. Thanks, Wayne, and thanks to all the friends and heroes that you have chronicled so magnificently in your book.

Whether or not you believe in the sentience of all living creatures, or if you believe in some form of hierarchy among the living, there is an age-old sense within you. It whispers or it trembles. We are alike, it strums. It is a soothing notion.

Photo of Alex[2] above is borrowed with apologies to the unknown photographer from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_%28parrot%29

[1] To find a copy in Portland: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=the+bond+wayne+pacelle&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=5225257397402494120&os=local-sellers&sa=X&ei=F7WZTvW_CczdiALK6oChDQ&ved=0CEoQ3QswBA or go to Amazon.com

[2] To watch Alex study, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6KvPN_Wt8I and for the bond between Dr. Pepperberg and Alex, see: http://www.alexfoundation.org/Alex_and_me.html