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The Indian Public School Grade: 9 English Date: Monthly Test 1 - Project Marks: 20 Summary Writing Passage: Parronts and Their Parrots

Some people argue that parrots should not be kept as pets for the following reasons: - Parrots are meant to live in the wild and keeping them captive is cruel. - Releasing pet parrots born in captivity is not viable as they do not know how to survive in the wild. However, responsible parrot owners ("parronts") ensure the well-being of their birds through the following: - Providing a safe, purpose-built aviary that mimics the natural habitat. - Researching proper care, including diet and preventing stress. - Adopting parrots that can no longer be cared for by their original owners rather than seeing them

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203 views3 pages

The Indian Public School Grade: 9 English Date: Monthly Test 1 - Project Marks: 20 Summary Writing Passage: Parronts and Their Parrots

Some people argue that parrots should not be kept as pets for the following reasons: - Parrots are meant to live in the wild and keeping them captive is cruel. - Releasing pet parrots born in captivity is not viable as they do not know how to survive in the wild. However, responsible parrot owners ("parronts") ensure the well-being of their birds through the following: - Providing a safe, purpose-built aviary that mimics the natural habitat. - Researching proper care, including diet and preventing stress. - Adopting parrots that can no longer be cared for by their original owners rather than seeing them

Uploaded by

me no one
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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THE INDIAN PUBLIC SCHOOL

Grade: 9 ENGLISH Date:

MONTHLY TEST 1 - PROJECT Marks: 20

SUMMARY WRITING

Passage: Parronts and their parrots

The writer of this letter is responding to an online post in the discussion forum of a
magazine concerned with animals and their welfare.

Dear ‘Freedom flight-er’,

Please find below my response to your ill-informed ranting and frankly ridiculous
suggestions in the discussion forum of this otherwise excellent publication. In the
manner of the birds, with whom I am privileged to spend time, I have adapted my
usual style of expression to imitate yours.

So, I’m a parront – get over it! Whilst your spell checker might not like it, you’ll find
that modern dictionaries online explain it’s a perfectly acceptable term for a
responsible owner of a pet parrot, a caregiver of a parrot of any species. And when
you’ve finished displaying your ignorance with jokes about Long John Silver, perhaps
you might remember that stereotype of a pirate with a parrot on his shoulder has its
basis in fiction, rather like your argument for not keeping parrots as pets. Firstly, I’m
not selfish or cruel and I wouldn’t like to live in a cramped cage any more than you
would. We’ve a purpose-built aviary that takes up most of my garden.

Simply liberating pet birds born in captivity is not a viable option; your suggestion is
naive at best. They don’t know how to be wild, don’t understand weather patterns and
think all cats are friendly and fluffy. Without supervision…need I say more? They’re
used to being cleaned for, protected and looked after, just like a small child. I assume
you wouldn’t suggest I set my toddler free too?

Responsible parronts learn their trade by spending time observing their birds. They
research, by talking with other owners, how to help keep their pets happy and calm
any stress or mood swings. Personally, I would never consider buying one taken from
the wild. Indeed, an oversupply of many parrot species commercially, thanks to
improvements in captive breeding techniques, means aviculture is becoming
self-sufficient. Prices of many parrots have crashed in recent years, helping to make
illegal trade less lucrative. Parronts of over-populated species are not allowing their
parrots to breed this season, as they can’t find suitable recipients for young birds.
Most of us would be first in the queue to adopt any bird whose owner couldn’t cope
rather than see it suffering from malnutrition, being kept in an unclean cage, or left
home alone for hours on end. Parronts sounds like parents for a reason: our parrots are
family.

It’s true parrots like company. In the wild that’s from other birds, but parronts make a
good substitute and our birds are kept safe from environmental hazards like storms.
Captive breeding in zoos provides back-up populations that might well yet be needed
if numbers in the wild keep dwindling.

For the record, I’m not decorating my home with a real living creature – would you
want the same wallpaper for fifty or sixty years? Parrots never should be bought on a
whim; increasingly larger, more expensive birds are being microchipped by breeders
to help track down those abandoned by owners who turned out to be seeking more of
a holiday romance than a lifelong commitment. My parrots have toys to amuse them
and we supplement their food to ensure their diet is as close as possible to what they’d
find foraging naturally, avoiding sunflower seeds and pre-prepared commercial diets
based on cereal grains, particularly maize. Parrots weren’t designed to handle these
high carbohydrate, high fat, low fibre foods.

If you’re really ‘bothered about birds’ and genuinely want to help these intelligent,
magnificent creatures, perhaps instead of spending time penning poisonous
propaganda, you might like to try contacting one of the genuine animal welfare
organisations running programmes designed to rescue, rehabilitate and release the
parrots caught in the wild bird trade. One of the most endangered groups of birds on
earth with more than ninety species under threat globally, parrots need well-informed,
committed humans championing their cause, not over-sentimental charlatans looking
to stir up trouble just to feather their own nest.

Question

Read the passage,‘Parronts and their Parrots’.

Write a summary of the arguments some people offer for not keeping parrots as pets
and how responsible owners of pet parrots ensure the well-being of their birds,
according to Passage.

Your summary should not exceed 120 words.

ANSWER THE QUESTION IN THE NEXT PAGE

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