Dolphin usage

[Starstruck*]

I knew from general information that Dolphins were used as "weapons" for military - USA that i know of for sure, these dolphins in the wild have a lifespan of an average 35 years, in the military base they are kept in 30 by 30 foot containers! =0 and their average life in the military is 20 years.

The military used dolphins to search for mines before, which was in reason - for safety to boats. But now they have used them for rather more dramatic purposes. The usa have a new program, which was kept confidential until an employee quit his job at the military, aiding in this documentary. The Dolphins are fitted with a cone shaped cap on there nose, attached to this is another piece of equipment, another cap of some sort. The dolphin is trained to go up to enemy divers and touch them with the cap, on contact a 9mm bullet is shot forward and the enemy is killed.

In previous wars with america 2 enemy divers were found dead from lethal injections. the culprit? dolphins...

Should Dolphins be used for such purposes? taking advantage of their obediance and friendly nature?

[dpbishop]

These stories have been around since the 70's but they are more smoke than substance. Back then my father held the position of West Coast Command of Undersea Research and Developement for the USN. While some experiments were tried with training porpoises to see what they could be used as, they knew that aggressive actions against humans went against the basic nature of porpoises.

here's a report from an ex civilian trainer:

It was 1985 when I hired on as a civilian trainer in the U.S. Navy dolphin program. In addition to finding out food deprivation, corporal punishment, and psychological mistreatment used in the training of these intelligent creatures, I learned that the project did not work and was in fact a security risk.

During a rehearsal prior to six dolphins being deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1987, a "killer dolphin" swam up to me, the "enemy frogman," threw off her nose-cone weapon, and gently laid her chin on my shoulder. The director of the program later told me that "they" (the U.S. Navy) knew it did not work, that it was "just a deterrent."

The navy spent more time training dolphins to locate mines and missing equipment.

Note: the " food deprivation, corporal punishment, and psychological mistreatment used in the training of these intelligent creatures" he mentioned is no worse then what any humane animal trainer does with any trainable species; dogs, horses, etc. Probably less, because you don't have to house train them.

Sea lions, on the other hand, are aggressive by nature, very similar to dogs in that area. But if I told you about them I would have to kill you.

[Starstruck*]

Sea lions, on the other hand, are aggressive by nature, very similar to dogs in that area. But if I told you about them I would have to kill you.

Lmao!

Thanks for clearing that up for me, glad to see that dolphins friendly nature got in the way this time. I don't personally agree with the bit about them being the same as other pets. Horses maybe, dogs i think humans can give them more than what they would normally get in the wild, but things like circus animals, bear baiting IS cruelty.

When you say animal trainers. do you mean people who can afford to say make their horses show jumpable and race trackable. This i can see why is cruelty to the animals.

Thanks again.

-Pat

[ScubaTexan]

Check out the movie Day of the Dolphin...

[fishb0y]

Should Dolphins be used for such purposes? taking advantage of their obediance and friendly nature?

So should we stop using dogs in the same capacity?

[Starstruck*]

When i said that, i meant what i meant, but dolphins aren't meant to kill. Well not like this i don't think. With dogs, on tracks same with horses i am against however they do get workout, and with Fox and Hounds, it is now illegal as a sport in England. If dogs are treated without respect and giving them as much as they give to you then i would see it as cruelty, however i do not find that dogs in general in the home are trained to kill. Outside the home guard dogs maybe but they are there for a purpose to prevent criminal activity yet should be treated well. Dolphins in general are not trained to kill, using them to kill whilst they think they are just playing - misleading them was the point i was trying to get accross.

No idea if that was worded correctly, hopefully you can understand what my views are of the differences.

-Pat

[fishb0y]

but dolphins aren't meant to kill-Pat

Hate to tell you, but dolphins are carnivorous. They are used as a tool, just like dogs. There is an excellent documentary, whose name slips my mind, in which a group of dolphins (spinners) were being killed by some unknown animal. When research was done on it, it was found that the spinners were being killed by bottle nose dolphins, and the spinners were not being hunted for food. Kinda like chimps in the wild hunting other monkeys.

So much for Flipper being a nice guy.

[archman]

I haven't heard about bottlenose attacking spinner's, but bottlenose in UK waters have been known to harass and kill harbor porpoise since the mid '90's. The most popular theory forwarded is that harbor porpoise resemble baby bottlenose.

Bottlenose dolphins practice infanticide.

[fishb0y]

Bottlenose dolphins practice infanticide.

Exactly. All I am trying to point out is people have a tendancy to put emotion before logic.

[minamin13]

The usa have a new program, which was kept confidential until an employee quit his job at the military, aiding in this documentary. The Dolphins are fitted with a cone shaped cap on there nose, attached to this is another piece of equipment, another cap of some sort. The dolphin is trained to go up to enemy divers and touch them with the cap, on contact a 9mm bullet is shot forward and the enemy is killed.

Should Dolphins be used for such purposes? taking advantage of their obediance and friendly nature?

From the US Navy Marine Mammal Program web site (http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/.../NMMP_FAQ.html

Does the Navy train its dolphins for offensive warfare, including attacks on ships and human swimmers or divers?
No. The Navy does not now train, nor has it ever trained, its marine mammals to harm or injure humans in any fashion or to carry weapons to destroy ships. A popular movie in 1973 ("The Day of the Dolphin") and a number of charges and claims by animal rights organizations have resulted in theories and sometimes actual beliefs that Navy dolphins are assigned attack missions. This is absolutely false. Since dolphins cannot discern the difference between enemy and friendly vessels, or enemy and friendly divers and swimmers, it would not be wise to give that kind of decision authority to an animal. The animals are trained to detect, locate, and mark all mines or all swimmers in an area of interest or concern, and are not trained to distinguish between what we would refer to as good or bad. That decision is always left to humans.