For over a year now, Zia has been speaking. It started when our handyman thought he heard me out in the raven enclosure, talking with the ravens. He heard “Salam” and “Salam Zia” in my voice and assumed I was in there—but when he kept calling my name and I didn’t respond, he realized it was one of the ravens imitating me. For a long time we couldn’t tell if it was Zia or Zola. I set up cameras and finally caught Zia doing it—fully impersonating me. I was shocked. Not long after, he picked up more Farsi—“Chetori?” (“How are you?”). After that, it became this strange, almost disorienting thing where I would wake up in the mornings and hear my own voice coming from outside my window—him, imitating me from the enclosure. But the second I got close, he would stop, like it was some kind of secret. We all heard him from a distance, but he almost never did it in front of us. A few weeks ago, Lexi heard him say “Salam” when she was in his enclosure, and we were so surprised—but today, for the first time, he spoke in front of me!! Zia is about to turn three, which means he’s coming into adulthood, and lately he’s been strutting in front of me, full beard on display. I’m convinced the vocalizing is part of that—his way of trying to impress me, because I’m the one he’s bonded to. And while I feel so lucky to share space with him, I wish he wasn’t bonded to me. I wish he was out in the wild, trying to impress an actual raven, doing what he’s supposed to be doing. Zia is here because someone tried to keep him as a pet (which is illegal and highly unethical). Animals are not here for us—they are here with us, and they deserve to live their lives in the wild. If there’s anything I hope this video does, it’s not inspire people to want a talking raven—but the opposite. I hope this goes viral for the right reasons. We’ve seen enough of the other kind of viral videos—the ones that lead to animals like Zia ending up here. I love him more than most things in this world, but he is not mine. If you ever find an injured or orphaned bird, please call a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Their lives depend on it.