Spy pigeon

Police took the bird and held it at an animal hospital.

Animal rights activists found out the bird was being held, and they campaigned for it to be released.

Actually, there are all kinds of ways that countries have used animals, or robots that look like animals, to spy on people.

I read an interesting story from India the other day. Somebody came across a pigeon near Mumbai. In case you don't know,  a pigeon's a kind of bird, that's very common all over the world, especially in cities. Anyway, someone found this pigeon in Mumbai, and they noticed that there was some writing on its wing. It looked like the writing was Chinese characters, so police took the bird and held it at an animal hospital. And they kept it there for a really long time.

Animal rights activists found out the bird was being held, and they campaigned for it to be released. Finally, police let it go a few days ago – after 8 months in captivity. Indian authorities didn't say anything about whether or not they thought the pigeon was a spy.

At first glance, it seemed really silly to me that a bird would be suspected of spying for a country. But it turns out, pigeons have been used to spy for over a hundred years. Certain kinds of pigeons are really good at returning to a spot. So, In World War I, they would attach little cameras to pigeons and have them fly over enemy lines, take some pictures, and then return. Pigeons were also used to deliver messages between places during that war. One pigeon, called Cher Ami, received a medal of honor from France, because he delivered a message that saved many soldiers' lives. And more recently, also in India, there was concern over another pigeon that was found carrying a message that threatened the Indian prime minister.

Actually, there are all kinds of ways that countries have used animals, or robots that look like animals, to spy on people. In the 1970s, the CIA created the “insectothopter,” which was a drone that was disguised as a dragonfly. It looked very similar to a dragonfly, and had a little microphone inside it to record people. They abandoned the project though, because the insectothopter had trouble functioning properly in heavy winds.

Listening Homework |
by Homework Cat

Listening Homework
by Homework Cat

Warmup

Did police determine whether the pigeon was a spy?