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Murderous Gas Huffing Parrots and Talking Dogs- Headline-Making Animals From History

Some beasts have acted more like humans much to the astonishment of society

Andrew Martin
5 min readNov 5, 2021

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Animals have become wonderfully enmeshed in the fabric of society. From domesticated pets and food sources to wild animals, there has generally been a close relationship between humans and wildlife. A significant part of this long-standing relationship has been that animals are typically pretty predictable, making it easy to know what to expect from them for the most part. However, there are always outliers, including some animals whose behavior was so outrageous and unexpected that it literally made headlines.

The Murdering, Gas Huffing Parrot: Generally, birds make pretty easy pets. Outside of a little squawking, they don’t create a lot of nuisance. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for 23-year-old Alice Knott’s parrot, who developed such an addiction to inhaling has that its habit eventually led to its owner’s tragic death.

In 1899, Alice lived in Washington, D.C. with her sister Mary, running a boarding house. Their mother died a few years earlier and they set themselves up in business. Despite the strenuous work associated with such an endeavor, she also devoted herself to her pet parrot, who lived with her for three…

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Andrew Martin
Andrew Martin

Written by Andrew Martin

Dabbler in soccer, history, investing & writing. Master’s degree in baseball history. Passionate about history, diversity, culture, sports, film and investing .

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