maybe we can train em to eat at mcdonalds next

[Guest guest]

Sea Lions and Dolphins May Join War Games

 

June 23, 2006 — By Associated Press

HONOLULU — Alongside the submarines, ships and airplanes participating in

large-scale military exercises in the Pacific this month, a team of sea lions

and dolphins are expected to patrol the sea.

 

These marine animals will be flown in from San Diego for simulated mine recovery

and mine detection during the biennial RIMPAC war games.

 

Six bottle-nosed dolphins would find the mines, while four California sea lions

would help recover them.

 

" There are a number of mechanical systems that work to some degree in those

areas, but not as well as the Navy would like them to work, " said Tom Lapuzza,

spokesman for the Navy's Marine Mammal Program. " Unmanned vehicles are becoming

better at finding mines and being able to deal with them, but they are still not

as good as the dolphins are. "

 

More than 40 ships, six submarines, 160 aircraft and nearly 19,000 military

personnel are taking part in RIMPAC 2006, which runs from Monday through July

28.

 

It brings together military forces from Australia, Canada, Chile, Peru, Japan,

the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States for training off

Hawaii.

 

But the high-tech gadgets deployed by the military can't match the natural

skills of the dolphins and sea lions, Lapuzza said.

 

Sea lions have " incredibly good underwater hearing " and can dive to 1,000 feet

to attach a recovery line to a simulated mine, he said. Dolphins use their sonar

to find the mines.

 

" For sure the divers and unmanned vehicles are going, " he said. " They are

thinking about taking dolphins, but are not sure they are going to do that yet. "

 

Opponents of the program say the military should not train animals for use in

warfare.

 

" These animals are highly sensitive, deeply intelligent creatures, and to use

them for warfare is to abuse them, " said Wayne Johnson, who is on the board of

Animal Rights Hawaii. " These animals need to swim free. "

 

Marine mammals have been used by the Navy since the early 1960s.

 

The animals save the Navy an estimated $1 million a year, Lapuzza said.

 

The $15 million Marine Mammal Program has 75 dolphins and 30 sea lions at its

San Diego facility.

 

The four sea lions will be transported to Hawaii in cages with pools of water,

and dolphins are carried in 10-foot-long fiberglass boxes suspended in a sling

and enough water to enable them to float, Lapuzza said.

 

Source: Associated Press

 

 

Defending this corruption on which you are sat

You tell me what to think, you tell me this and that

`Freedom is O.K. you scum` but make sure it`s never used

In your defence of liberty I always stand accused