From: "Mark" 

Finally, I know what the big deal is on the dolphins in the news all the
time! I had been thinking, so what?, they're out in their natural
environment again...

Now I know, hapless snorkeling fools off the coast of Sanibel Island may
just get taken out, instead of taking out shells. 

"Rich Gauszka"  wrote in message
news:43373bbf{at}w3.nls.net...
> Think Flipper will have a wanted poster hung in the Post Office?
>
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1577753,00.html
>
> 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?'
>
> Usually dolphins were controlled via signals transmitted through a neck
> harness. 'The question is, were these dolphins made secure before Katrina
> struck?' said Sheridan.
>
> 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.
>
>
>
>

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