Umm, Steak..
Posted on 03/26/2003 1:17:34 AM PST by HAL9000
PARIS (AFP) - The US military's use of trained dolphins to help demine southern Iraqi waters ran into crossfire on Tuesday from animal-rights groups and biologists, who branded the scheme both unethical and unreliable."We are strongly opposed to keeping these mammals in captivity, and we're not happy with this exploitation," Cathy Williamson of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, a British-based agency, told AFP.
"The animals could get hurt, and that's not justified," Williamson said.
Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife biologist at the US campaign group PETA (People for the Ethical Treaty of Animals), slammed the US military for "absolutely" exploiting animals.
"It is very cruel to put an animal in harm's way," she told AFP. "But our concern isn't just for the animals, it's also for the troops."
"These animals are being taught basically to do tricks and animals, especially animals as intelligent as sealions and dolphins, have minds of their own, and the chance of their failing to fulfill a mission when life and death are at stake is quite possible," Boyles said.
Similar doubts were expressed by a French expert, Olivier van Canneyt, an expert on marine mammals at the Sea and Coastline Institute in La Rochelle, western France.
Dolphins are quite hardy animals and could probably survive the long transport and change of sea temperature quite well, he said.
"However, I have to say I am very skeptical as to whether they will be effective," he said.
Van Canneyt said that a rival dolphin-training programme by the Soviet Union, and then Russia, had been abandoned several years ago because of disappointing results.
"It has to be said that the reliability is low, and even if dolphins are trained for years they may not do what you want them to do," Van Canneyt said.
Even though these animals had known no other life other than captivity, "it is quite a pity that they are being used as objects and for military use," he said.
In Qatar on Tuesday, US General Victor Renuart said that dolphins were being used to help demine the Khawr Abdullah waterway linking the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr to the Gulf to help bring in shiploads of relief supplies.
The aid should start to arrive in Iraq on Wednesday, officers said in Umm Qasr.
The dolphins are among a unit of 70 dolphins and 20 sealions that have been trained by the US Navy's Marine Mammal Program to spot underwater mines and enemy scuba divers who may be trying to plant explosives in deep waters.
The programme was launched in 1960 when US researchers began studying dolphins to get clues as to how to design new streamline torpedoes to strike Soviet submarines at the height of the Cold War.
The dolphins first went into action during the Vietnam War and again in the 1990-1991 Gulf War.
The animals are acquired from sea parks and are born in captivity, their trainers told AFP earlier this month. The programme has funding of between 10 and 20 million dollars a year (9.39-18.78 million euros).
The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), said it could not comment on the use of dolphins in demining.
"We work on conservation issues. These are dolphins that have been bred in captivity, so it does not come within our remit," a spokesman said at the agency's headquarters in Britain said.
LOL! I grilled some 1-1/2" thick New York strips last night.
Delicious!
PETA sucks.
Exactly. What's more, smart animals are BORED unless they are doing something that's fun and challenging. My Lab has to have a job to do, or she goes nuts. When she's working away at her agility training, or retrieving, she's grinning and that ol' otter tail is just swinging back and forth. A busy dog is a happy dog, and I bet the same thing goes for Flipper.
Good idea, make mine medium well.
Now THAT'S cruelty to animals! :-D
Get a better cut and cook it less. You'll enjoy it more.
Hey, did you ever notice that tuna just doesnt taste as good since it all became dolphin safe?
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