Animal Soldiers Go Hi-Tech

By Michael Mountain, May 25, 2011

Dolphins, bats as conscripts in war

Animals in War When Animals Are Drafted For 5,000 years they’ve been fighting our wars with us War Horses – the Engines of Battle A brief timeline of “the supreme animals of war” For Kittens of War, Marines are Heroes Rescued from the firing, now living happily ever after All Creatures Great and Small Elephants and pigeons on the battlefield When Soldiers Deploy What happens to their pets? The 80th Commando The dog who went after Osama bin Laden Animal Soldiers Go Hi-Tech Dolphins and bats as conscripts in war Battle Buddy Now Therapy Donkey Smoke settles in at his new home in Nebraska Warrior Dog Gets Stem Cell Therapy Basco’s hip healed from arthritis Animals, Conspiracies and ‘The Avengers’ Testing out our weapons of war Should We Be Testing Weapons of War on Animals? Behind the scenes at secret laboratories Stray Dogs of War Take a Bow A special appearance at a prestigious dog show The Most Decorated Dog Sgt. Stubby – a World War I hero The Lion of Afghanistan How the King of Beasts became a sacrificial victim in a world gone astray

It’s no fun being a captive dolphin. You’re not with your family; you’re doing tricks in exchange for food; and you don’t get to roam the ocean. Most of us think of marine circuses like SeaWorld, or of scientists in laboratories, when we think of dolphins in captivity. But they’ve also been conscripted into the military — and mostly for programs that are kept heavily under wraps.

If you had to choose between working for the military and entertaining people at a marine circus, it would be a toss-up. With the military, at least you’re not stuck in a small tank your whole life. But your tour of duty probably began when you were captured and drafted at one of the infamous massacres shown in the Oscar-winning move The Cove. And you’ll be doing dangerous things that could well kill you. At least three dolphins were killed off the coast of San Diego in March in what the Navy justified as a “mission critical” operation.

Bottlenose dolphins, the species of choice, are trained to alert their navy partners to protect ships and harbors from terrorists and other enemy combatants, to search out mines and other suspicious objects underwater, and to leave an acoustic transponder close by so divers can then find the weapon’s location.

The U.S. Navy trains dolphins and also sea lions under the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program, which is based in San Diego, California. There are about 75 dolphins are in the program, and military dolphins were used by the U.S. Navy during the First and Second Gulf Wars.

The Soviet (now Russian) Navy used to operate a dolphin program, but is believed to have shut it down in the early 1990s. In 2000, it was reported that dolphins trained to kill by the Soviet Navy had been sold to Iran.

It’s also rumored that dolphins have been trained to lay underwater mines, to go on suicide missions to seek and destroy submarines, to use poison darts in assassination ops. The U.S. Navy denies all of this, and answers other questions here.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, there were reports that 36 military dolphins went missing in the Gulf of Mexico, armed with poisoned darts. Accident investigator Leo Sheridan, 72, said he had received intelligence from sources close to the U.S. government’s marine fisheries service confirming dolphins had escaped:

Again, the Navy dismisses these reports.