dolphins of war

7/28/2019 Dolphins of War

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Dolphins of War

For thousands of years, man has exploited animals and used them to wage waragainst others. Horses, elephants and even dogs have been drafted in theservice when the need has arisen. Yet dolphins are being abused in aparticularly invidious way. Armed with explosives, trained to seek out enemymines and vessels and to destroy them, dolphins are being trained by both theAmerican and Russian navies. This is surely one of the most sadistic displays ofman's humanity to man - and to dolphin.Dolphins were there in the murky waters of Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. Dolphinswere trained to speed towards a Vietnamese frogman and skew him with alance strapped to its beak. In the Persian Gulf War a team of dolphins divedeep into the ocean and use their complex echolocation to hunt down straytorpedoes and detect enemy mines. This is the reality of the dolphins of war,trained by the US Navy to seek and destroy.

The US Navy started its work with dolphins in the late 1950's when researchwas geared towards analysing the dolphins hydrodynamics and sonar. Thedolphins were poked, prodded and put through rigorous testing to discoverhow they could swim at high speeds for long periods of time. The Navy hoped

it could learn from the dolphins to improve its own vessels. The Navy alsocarried out a wide variety of experiments to determine whether dolphins couldbe trained to locate and retrieve "lost" objects from the seabed using its sonar.They wanted to use dolphins to replace expensive electronic equipment andhuman divers.In the early 1960's, the work of John C. Lilly and other scientists investigatingdolphin communication and intelligence alerted the navy that dolphinspossessed intelligence second only to man's and they had the ability to learntasks quickly and efficiently. The Navy then started "secret" dolphin researchbut early reports of these plans quickly leaked out and people were appalled by

the suggestion that cetaceans could be exploited in such a way. However thenavy went on with the program and ahead with training.

From 1960 to 1989, the US Navy is known to have employed 240 dolphins.They include atlantic bottlenose dolphins, pacific white-sided dolphins, belugas,killer whales, pilot whales, false killer whales and even sea lions. The first andmost famous navy dolphim was Notty, a pacific white-sided dolphin that wasenlisted by an aquarium in Los Angeles, California. She was in to small of atank for in-depth experiments to take place so they moved her to the Office ofNaval Research at Point Mugu, CA. The navy collected other dolphins and

subjected them to a battery of rigorous tests in order to learn more about theirsensory systems, sonar and aquatic ergonomics.


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(Above a California sea lion employed by the Navy puts a tagging device on a"lost" missile.) The main goal was to train dolphins to retrieve ultimately formore sinister purposes. From 1965 to 1969 a dolphin trainer for the navy used

acoustic signals to give commands to the dolphins and of course fish forrewards. The animals would retrieve mines quickly and more effiently thannavy divers. The dolphins are not free to choose whether they want to beinvolved in such activies.Marine mammal trainers that have worked with navy dolphins in the past wentpublic in 1988 about how the Navy dolphins are used and trained. It has beensaid by many ex-navy trainers that the dolphins have been beaten, kicked andotherwise mistreated. Some even say dolphins that became to old or no use tothe Navy anymore were dumped at sea without being rehabilitated. Twentypercent of the dolphins escape each year many still with muzzles on their

snouts or rostrums that prevent them from eating. Dolphins have escaped intothe Pacific. They are being turned into Kamikaze torpedoes, or trained toattach magnetic explosives to the bottom of enemy ships. Dolphins are alsobeing trained in the swimmer nullification program, where a long, hollowhypodermic needle is placed over the snout of the dolphin for injectingcompressed CO into the enemy frogmen, the pressurized gas forcing thefrogman's internal organs out of his body orifices.

One dolphin which captures the interest of the media at the time was Tuf Guy,also known as Tuffy, who was involved in a project at Sealab II in La Jolla,

California. Tuffy was trained to carry tools and messages between thelaboratory above ground and the underwater base and was able to undertaketasks that were physically impossible for human divers.In 1987, the US Navy airlifted six Pacific bottlenose dolphins to the PersianGulf where they were used for underwater surveillance and to detect minesand missiles. Although these operations were "top secret" at the time, Navyofficials have now admitted that dolphins were present in both Vietnam andPersian Gulf war.

The US Navy now has at least 130 dolphins and a number of other marinemammals at its main bases in Hawaii, San Diego and Key West. The dolphinsare caught by one of the largest dolphin-catchers called Marine MammalProductions Inc. (MAP) in Gulfport, Mississippi and then brought to Seaco Inc.in San Diego where they recieve basic training. From here they are dispatchedto the naval bases for intensive training. Dolphin experts now say that Navyresearch is now focused on using the dolphins for their echolocation to detectlong-range nuclear missiles, and there is a growing fear that the Russians, whohave also exploited dolphins abilities for warfare purposes may use the animalsto counter-attack the Americans. All this has led the US Navy to investigatedevices which can jam the sonar of these "enemy dolphins" to protect its owninterests. There are fears that the military deployment of dolphins will escalateand there is already evidence that the Navy has invested $1 million intoexpanding its marine mammal research program. Below a dolphin carrys a


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mine searching system that detects and marks the location of mines on theocean bottom. Like the Navy, dolphins use sonar. Dolphins are also capable ofmaking repeated deep dives without experiencing "the bends" ordecompression sickness as do human divers. This capability would makedolphins valuable assistants to Navy divers working in the open ocean.

The Navy has spent $30 million on its dolphin program during the ReagonAdministration and that was money down the drain. The use of dolphins forwar has the potential to put wild dolphin populations at risk. This operation canlead to the indiscriminate killing of dolphins. If both the US and Russia aredeploying dolphins for defense purposes, then any that happen to beunfortunate enough to be in an area where there is naval activity, run the riskof being killed - who's to know whose side there on?

Even naval staff have commented on the dilemma presented by deployingdolphin weapon systems. In 1981, Navy Lt. Commander Douglas Burnettwrote: "In a hostile confrontation, both sides will have to consider dolphins aspotential enemy biosensors or weapons. In some situations, there may be nochoice but to destroy dolphins or any marine mammal presenting a similarthreat...it may be a sound decision to protect shipping...by poisoning thesurrounding waters to remove the threat of dolphin attacks, which would,coincidentally, remove a sizeable proportion of the area's ecology." Usingdolphins for such warlike purposes has also created another problem. The Navyhas admitted that some of its dolphins have permanently escaped from

captivity. This raises the question, what potentially dangerous and offensivebehavior might such an escaped dolphin exhibit when encountering aninnocent recreational diver? The answer is most likely nothing at all. In theUnited States a dolphin named Dolly that escaped from the US Navy trainingprogram became close friends with the Asbury family in southern Florida. Shebecame particularly close to the mother Jean and learned many tricks andgames. A notable trick she learned was retrieving dimes from the water andreturning them to Jean. Several different coins were thrown into the water butDolly was only to return the dimes. Being in the Navy training program Dollywas already use to human contact and sought out futher interactions. Never

did Dolly try to hurt the Asbury family or anyone else.

(Above common dolphins speed through the water like living "torpedoes".)Recent cutbacks following the collaspe of the Soviet Union have forced thetraining facilities in Hawaii and Florida to close. The entire program now


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operates in San Diego. Gentle, intelligent, wild animals like the dolphins willalways be wild and never domesticated like a dog or horse and should not beused for war purposes. The Navy has also used dolphins to guard nucleararsenals but being wild animals once they've had there fill of fish they areknown to wander off duty. No animal wild or domesticated should be used for

these purposes. Would you like dolphins guarding weapons or ships? Vote atthe bottom if you think the military should or shouldn't use dolphins.

Orcas in the Navy

The picture above shows an orca named "Ahad" enlisted in the navy workingoff the coast of Hawaii. Ahad was one of two orcas working in the navy inHawaii retrieving decoy torpedos on the ocean floor. The other orca namedIshmel swam off when they were brought out to the open ocean and he neverreturned. Wild orcas are rarely seen in Hawaiian waters because they prefermuch colder water. Ahad was captured in 1968 in October off the coast of

Washington. He was a member of either J or L pod. He died in 1974 after ashort life of only 5 1/2 years in captivity.


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First picture shows Ahad retrieving a torpedo from the ocean floor and secondpicture shows him surfacing and his bent dorsal. Orcas in captivity have bent

dorsals and although Ahad worked in the open ocean he was transported backto the Naval Oceanic Center on the island of Oahu. Below shows him in thesling used to transport orcas.


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More on Dolphins of WarDid Navy order dolphin deaths?

U.S., Ukraine at cross porpoisesRussian trainer sells "mercenary" dolphins to IranUS Navy Marine Mammal Program - Official PageA Whale Of A Business: The Story Of Navy DolphinsNATO and the US Navy DolphinsTrained killer whales for Navy 'LFAS' missions - RealAudio 3hrsNavy Dolphins to Look for Mines Off NorwayAnimals in the MilitaryMilitary Dolphins

Pictures
http://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/summer98/wn_sum98f.htmhttp://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/1997/nd97/nd97bulletins.htmlhttp://www.salon.com/travel/planet/2000/03/24/dolphins/index.htmlhttp://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/whales/etc/navycron.htmlhttp://www.iridescent-publishing.com/RTM/ch5p8.htm#NATOhttp://broadcast.com/shows/endoftheline/9805/end0519.ramhttp://www.oceania.org.au/soundnet/apr01/mine.htmlhttp://www.cdi.org/adm/Transcripts/510/http://www.eco1.co.uk/military001.htmhttp://www.earthisland.org/eijournal/summer98/wn_sum98f.htmhttp://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/1997/nd97/nd97bulletins.htmlhttp://www.salon.com/travel/planet/2000/03/24/dolphins/index.htmlhttp://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/whales/etc/navycron.htmlhttp://www.iridescent-publishing.com/RTM/ch5p8.htm#NATOhttp://broadcast.com/shows/endoftheline/9805/end0519.ramhttp://www.oceania.org.au/soundnet/apr01/mine.htmlhttp://www.cdi.org/adm/Transcripts/510/http://www.eco1.co.uk/military001.htm


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Zac the Sea Lion who was deployed to Iraq for "Enduring Freedom".


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Unidentified Navy Dolphins. Do you know who they are?


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