Armed and Dangerous Dolphins let loose by Katrina...

[KoKo]

Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina

by Mark Townsend Houston
Sunday September 25, 2005
The Observer

It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.

Leo Sheridan, 72, a respected accident investigator who has worked for government and industry, said he had received intelligence from sources close to the US government's marine fisheries service confirming dolphins had escaped.

'My concern is that they have learnt to shoot at divers in wetsuits who have simulated terrorists in exercises. If divers or windsurfers are mistaken for a spy or suicide bomber and if equipped with special harnesses carrying toxic darts, they could fire,' he said. 'The darts are designed to put the target to sleep so they can be interrogated later, but what happens if the victim is not found for hours?'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1577753,00.html

[peacetalksforall]

1. Is this from the Onion?

[rosesaylavee]

2. I guess I needed to end my day on a silly note... thanks for posting!

Guns don't kill people. Dolphins do.

[rodeodance]

7. O is for Observer

Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina

by Mark Townsend Houston
Sunday September 25, 2005
The Observer

[rodeodance]

9. Cetacean Intelligence Mission

......The mystery surfaced when a separate group of dolphins was washed from a commercial oceanarium on the Mississippi coast during Katrina. Eight were found with the navy's help, but the dolphins were not returned until US navy scientists had examined them.

Sheridan is convinced the scientists were keen to ensure the dolphins were not the navy's, understood to be kept in training ponds in a sound in Louisiana, close to Lake Pontchartrain, whose waters devastated New Orleans.

The navy launched the classified Cetacean Intelligence Mission in San Diego in 1989, where dolphins, fitted with harnesses and small electrodes planted under their skin, were taught to patrol and protect Trident submarines in harbour and stationary warships at sea.

Criticism from animal rights groups ensured the use of dolphins became more secretive. But the project gained impetus after the Yemen terror attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Dolphins have also been used to detect mines near an Iraqi port.

[niyad]

3. oh my goodness, this is just TOOOOOOO funny. do you think people

are actually going to believe this??

[Radio_Lady]

5. I interviewed an author from California who wrote a book about intelligent

dolphins taking commands from a computer.

From writer R. G. Roane's web page about his book "The Delphinus Chronicles". Synopsis: A student project spirals into a torrent of unintended consequences when their supercomputer mistakenly learns to communicate with the dolphins at an aquatic theme park.

http://delphinuschronicles.cherryhillpublishing.com/The%20Delphinus%20Chronicles.htm

This is a better web site by the same author:

http://www.delphinuschronicles.com/main.htm

[readmoreoften]

4. Armed dolphins. Welcome to the New America.

When insanity like this is fact, do we have to turn to fiction to regain a sense of reality?

The dolphin darts just put divers and windsurfers to sleep in the water? When you sleep in the water...isn't that called 'drowning'?

[O.M.B.inOhio]

6. Douglas Adams was working on a book with armed kangaroos in L.A.

So when your country starts looking like a the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, it's time to worry.

edit: No, it's time to drink.

[ozarkvet]

22. Douglas Adams

Writing a new book is a good trick for a dead guy.

But sounds like something straight out of his books.

[O.M.B.inOhio]

26. he WAS writing it.. But isn't now, probably.

Salmon of Doubt was published posthumously, assembed from discovered files in the late author's Mac computers and from scattered publications and speeches. About half of it is rougher-than-rough chapters for a novel.

[Spinzonner]

8. Well, at least they didn't do it on porpoise

[rosesaylavee]

10. ***groan***

:)

[Radio_Lady]

11. Here some information on Leo Sheridan from disinfo.com:

the search for the military marine mammalian candidate
by Preston Peet - December 20, 2000

I am prepared to go to Allah, or even to the Devil, as long as my animals will be OK, said the 'animal mercenaries' squad trainer of a dolphin group that have been sold to Iran by Crimean authorities, who can no longer afford to keep them. As reported by the English 'Times' newspaper (March 10, 2000), the group of twenty-seven militarily trained sea mammals, which includes dolphins, Beluga whales, walruses, and sea lions, was flown to an Iranian military base along the Persian Gulf. The animals have all been trained in finding mines, or placing mines on enemy shipping, finding lost torpedoes, and was even involved in airdrop experiments.

Another trick some of the dolphins know is to stab enemy divers with a harpoon mounted on the animal's back, then drag the diver to the surface impaled upon the point. Another horror story, which appears to involve dolphins that were part of military experiments were the scores of dead dolphins that, washed up on French Mediterranean beaches. 'Earth Island Journal' (Summer 1998), reported that John Henley, a reporter for the London 'Observer' told of seeing most with "an identical, and mysterious wound, a neat, fist sized hole, on the underside of their necks."

Leo Sheridan, an accident investigator, is quoted as saying he is "convinced that these were dolphins that were trained by the US Navy, and something went badly wrong." Sheridan went on, saying "they were disposed of to conceal the existence of the American's military dolphin program." Apparently, in 1989 the US began tests using dolphins fitted with special harnesses that would push electrodes into their flesh. The dolphins would be "monitored and controlled via electric signals transmitted through the neck harness." Most disturbingly, Sheridan pointed out that sixteen of the dead dolphins had wounds indicative of the explosive charge inserted into the harness worn by the military test subjects, to keep those dolphins from falling into enemy hands. "It seems incredible, but these programs are well known in military circles," Sheridan revealed.

Another expert, Anatoly Bezusko has been quoted saying, "Kamikaze dolphins work well in the movies, but not in real life," by 'Radio Free Europe' although there is no denying that, while reportedly giving up on them as they are not 'good soldiers', various militaries have been training dolphins and other aquatic animals for special high-risk military missions.

Go to:

http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/dossier/id312/pg1/

[Ready4Change]

12. This is Unconstitutional!

The Constitution clearly says we can arm BEARS. It doesn't say squat about an dolphins!

:P

[Radio_Lady]

13. The U. S. Naval Marine Mammal Program web site link:

http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!

Look at that cute dolphin on the RIGHT dressed up in a navy jacket, tie and hat! WHERE ARE HIS PANTS? Oh, TAILoring problems, I see.

[Ready4Change]

20. Check out Question #4 in their FAQ, and the answer

http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/NMMP_FAQ.html

The question is if these animals are trained to offensive actions. The answer is no. And the reason given in the answer is that the animals cannot be relied upon to tell friend from foe, so you don't know if they'd attack the "bad" guys or the good.

That's a sensible answer, and why I don't think there are gun armed dolphins swimmming around loose in the gulf. Now, there might be marker armed dolhins, swimming around and tagging debris similar to what they have been trained to find. And that action, leaving markers floating around, might be a good means of finding them.

[amerikat]

14. more mammals with guns......that's just peachy(ntnf)

no text no flippers. wtf?

[Radio_Lady]

24. Only two votes. Maybe this article belongs in GD. I rarely come to this

thread.

Thanks, all.

[global1]

15. Somebody Here Has To Post A Picture Of * Giving The Finger.....

he is armed and dangerous - and we call him "flipper".

[Radio_Lady]

16. Somebody tell me about The Observer -- is it a tabloid? How much truth

in this story?

Just a Sunday joke or what?

[liberalpragmatist]

18. It's a pretty reputable paper

But the British papers in general, even the "quality" papers like The Guardian/Observer (Observer is the Sunday version of The Guardian), The Times, The Telegraph, and the Independent have some more tabloid-style stories than, say, the NYT or Washington Post. British papers, even the quality ones, are a little less formal in their writing, more open in their biases and somewhat more sensationalistic. For example, back in the spring of '04 when Drudge reported that Kerry had cheated with some former intern, most American papers didn't touch the story but all the British papers ran with it - headlines like "Kerry's Campaign Rocked By Allegations of Infidelity" and "Democrats Stunned at Kerry Affair Allegation," etc.

As for this story - who the hell knows? I'm slightly sceptical, given that it cites no sources and claims this is all classified information - how did they obtain it, etc?

But it's an awfully funny story.

[pitohui]

21. brits have a funny sense of humor abt animal stories

even normally serious british media sources like to drop in the silly season animal story, maybe you have to be from that culture to understand it

you are correct the story is a leg-pull

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

17. Hot Damn!

Looks like we got us a story---even better than SHAAAAARK ATTAAAAACK!!!

[skids]

19. Recommended.

True or farce, still deserves a few votes.

[Radio_Lady]

23. I recommended yesterday, but have no more time to research this.

Outta here this morning on errands.

What else is new with this story, if anything. Google "Leo Sheridan" accident investigator and see what comes up.

I'll check in later...

Might try to call Richard Roane the author to see if he might know anything more. He's in Calif. so I can try in the late afternoon PT.

[rosesaylavee]

25. Hmmmm. Found Leo and read up one instance of this

story. Not funny as a I thought. My apologies.

[KoKo]

27. As it's written it's very funny...

but the dark side is that...it's probably truer than most of us want to know.

I did read posts here on DU way back about this program for dolphins. And, many of us thought it had been halted.

I'm not sure, that I think that training dolphins to check for spies on our ships is so much a bad thing. We do use "attack dogs, Guard Dogs, Spy Dogs, Search and Rescue Dogs, etc., for all kinds of purposes both good and maybe questionable.

So, what's a few "well trained dolphins" to matter when we all train our pets and rescue missions and police, fireman and others use dogs for other purposes.

Somehow...the "FREE TO BE YOU AND ME" among us..hope that our Mammals and other Living Creatures could have a "CHOICE."

But until we can communicate properly with our fellow Earth Dwellers..how can we ask them to "volunteer?" Perhaps we need to "Conscript" them. :-(

[Generic Other]

28. They are training sea lions to make arrests!!

The sea lions are trained to detect swimmers or divers approaching military ships or piers. The animals carry a clamp in their mouths. They approach the swimmer quietly from behind and attach the clamp, which is connected to a rope, to the swimmer's leg. With the person restrained, sailors aboard ships can pull the swimmer out of the water.


http://www.mongabay.com/external/dolphins_warfare.htm