it's been a while, sorry

On September 6, 2007 an African Grey parrot named Alex dies prematurely at age thirty-one. His last words to his owner, Irene Pepperberg, were "You Be Good. I Love you." from Alex and Me.
I read this line over again and again and it still makes me cry. I'm reading the book now about the amazin things this parrot was able to do. I looked up a video on youtube and was even more devastated by the way the parrot looked and some of the comments that were posted. One person posted that it was all a hoax - that the parrot was simply trained to mimic responses based on cues from the trainer. alex was also under some kind of duress - as he had obviosly been plucking his feathers out. but i haven't finished the book - maybe the author/trainer/scientist addresses.
it breaks my heart in every way imaginable to think or know that this animal had a conciousness. that he actually felt for and was able to express to his owner how he felt. what tears me up about the story is that the owner/trainer/scientist struggled to maintain a scientist/subject relationship with the creature. perhaps that is why he was distressed enough to pull his feathers? because he knew his person didn't really care for him in any other way except as a test subject? maybe it was the day in day out of training, being asked the same questions over and over again to prove a scientific theory that lead the animal to be so stressed that he pulled his feathers?
while it is important to learn and understand how animals communicate and what level they may or may not comprehend and communicate emotions - the scientific approach, no matter how liberal (esp in this case, according to the scientist) is still cruel and unusual. furthermore, it's a shame that we need scientific validation in order to even come close to treating non-human animals with dignity ans respect. even with all the evidence, proof, scientific research, study and evidence that proves animals have a cognitive, emotional method of communication, it doesn't change the way we as a species treat others, does it.
i don't know where i belong in this world sometimes.