Correct Answer: whether the shelter should raise its adoption fees
Passage Reference: the shelter board here in Saskatoon began debating higher adoption fees to cut down on returned animals
Why this is correct: The blogger explains that the shelter board is debating higher adoption fees, and every paragraph reports a view on that plan.
Tips: Look at the end of the first paragraph for what the board began debating. Then check that each speaker gives a view on it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- how to train a newly adopted dog: Training is never discussed. Castellano’s advice is about feeding, housing and the return policy.
- whether pet stores should stop selling puppies: Pet stores are never mentioned. The debate is about the shelter’s own fees.
- why the shelter needs a bigger building: The shelter’s building is never discussed. The money in the debate is for surgery and staff time.
Correct Answer: Tobias Wiebe
Passage Reference: warns that a flat increase would shut out renters and newcomers
Why this is correct: Tobias Wiebe warns that a flat increase would shut out renters and newcomers. These are people who often keep an animal for its whole life.
Tips: Read each speaker’s lines and look for the verb “warns”. Then check who that person says a higher price would leave out.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Esme Plamondon: Esme Plamondon wants the higher fee. She does not worry about shutting out renters.
- Niamh Castellano: Niamh Castellano talks about advice on feeding, housing and returns, not about renters being priced out.
- Darius Amundsen: Darius Amundsen asks for monthly return figures and says nothing about who a fee increase would shut out.
Correct Answer: records showing fewer returns when fees are higher
Passage Reference: animals come back less often when adopters hand over real money rather than a symbolic sum
Why this is correct: Plamondon says her kennel logs show animals come back less often when adopters pay real money rather than a symbolic sum. More records like that would support her case for a higher fee.
Tips: First find Plamondon’s main reason for her proposal. Then pick the proof that would make that reason stronger.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a survey showing renters keep pets longer: A survey about renters keeping pets would support Wiebe, who worries that a higher fee shuts renters out.
- a report that many adopters skip the vet: Vet visits after adoption are never discussed, and such a report would not show that a higher fee works.
- complaints that the shelter’s forms are too long: Forms are never mentioned, and complaints about them have nothing to do with Plamondon’s fee.
Correct Answer: monthly return rates would be reported for each fee level
Passage Reference: wants any fee pilot to report return rates every month for each fee level
Why this is correct: Amundsen wants any fee pilot to report return rates every month for each fee level. Then the board can reverse the change if the numbers stay flat.
Tips: Read Amundsen’s lines and find what any pilot would have to do. The right choice restates that demand in other words.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the fee would be set by a public vote: Amundsen wants monthly numbers reported to the board, not a public vote on the fee.
- every adopter would need a landlord’s letter: Landlord letters are never mentioned. Amundsen asks for monthly figures.
- the shelter would stop taking back returned pets: Amundsen wants returns counted and reported, not refused.
Correct Answer: argue for a fee that renters can still afford
Passage Reference: my forty-dollar cat is proof that a cheap adoption is not always a careless one ... I would back Wiebe’s sliding scale
Why this is correct: The writer adopted a cheap cat while renting and uses that as proof that a cheap adoption is not always careless. The post backs a sliding scale. The purpose is to argue for a fee people with little money can still pay.
Tips: Read the last paragraph, starting with “Here is where I come down.” Notice which ideas the writer backs and why the cat story matters.
Why the other options are wrong:
- announce that the shelter is closing: The shelter is not closing. The blog post is about its fees.
- ask readers to foster puppies this spring: Readers are never asked to foster. The only plan is to speak at the board’s next public meeting.
- report the results of a finished fee pilot: No pilot has happened yet. Amundsen is only asking what a future pilot should publish.
Correct Answer: covers spaying or neutering before pets go home
Passage Reference: The fee also pays for spaying or neutering before each animal goes home.
Why this is correct: Plamondon says the fee also pays for spaying or neutering before each animal goes home.
Tips: The comment names Plamondon, so go to her lines. Look for the word “also” and what follows it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- pays the salaries of kennel staff: Plamondon mentions staff time spent on returns, but she never says the fee pays staff salaries.
- buys a year of food for each pet: Food is never mentioned as something the fee pays for.
- funds free training classes for adopters: Training classes are never mentioned. The fee pays for spaying or neutering.
Correct Answer: a middle fee with simple waivers
Passage Reference: His own proposal is a middle fee, with waivers that are simple to understand.
Why this is correct: Wiebe, the foster coordinator, says his own proposal is a middle fee, with waivers that are simple to understand.
Tips: The comment calls him the foster coordinator. Find the sentence that begins “His own proposal is”.
Why the other options are wrong:
- no fee at all for anyone: Wiebe wants a middle fee, not free adoptions for everyone.
- a doubled fee for every adopter: Wiebe warns against a flat increase, so he would not want the fee doubled for everyone.
- a fee paid in small parts: Wiebe never suggests paying in parts. He wants a middle fee with waivers.
Correct Answer: advice on feeding, housing and returns
Passage Reference: a family that leaves without advice on feeding, housing and the return policy is likely to struggle
Why this is correct: Castellano says a family that leaves without advice on feeding, housing and the return policy is likely to struggle, whatever it paid.
Tips: The comment names Castellano, so go to her lines. Read what a family needs at the desk before it leaves.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a signed promise from their landlord: Castellano never mentions landlords. She talks about advice before adopters go home.
- a free first visit to a vet: Castellano is a veterinary technician, but she asks for advice, not a free vet visit.
- a microchip and a name tag: Microchips and name tags are never mentioned in the blog post.
Correct Answer: fees in several nearby cities already depend on income
Passage Reference: In several nearby cities, he says, the fee already slides up or down with proof of income.
Why this is correct: Wiebe says that in several nearby cities the fee already slides up or down with proof of income.
Tips: This fact comes from the second speaker’s lines. Find the fact he reports there and match it to a choice in other words.
Why the other options are wrong:
- most shelters in the province charge no fee: Nobody says most shelters charge nothing. Wiebe says fees in nearby cities slide with income.
- the city pays for every spay surgery: Plamondon says the adoption fee pays for spaying or neutering, not the city.
- returns fall sharply every spring: Nobody gives a seasonal pattern. Plamondon links fewer returns to higher fees.
Correct Answer: adopted a cat while renting a basement suite
Passage Reference: Nine years ago I adopted a skinny grey cat from our city shelter for forty dollars. I was renting a basement suite, working two part-time jobs
Why this is correct: The blogger adopted a grey cat nine years ago while renting a basement suite and working two part-time jobs.
Tips: The blank is about the writer’s own story. Read the first two sentences of the post.
Why the other options are wrong:
- fostered puppies for the shelter last year: Fostering is never mentioned by the writer. Wiebe is the one who works with foster homes.
- returned a dog after one weekend: The writer kept the cat for nine years, and the returned dog is only Plamondon’s example.
- volunteers every week at the shelter: The writer adopted a cat there but never says anything about volunteering.
