Military dolphin

From Freepedia

The United States and Russian militaries have trained and employed dolphins for several reasons. Such military dolphins can be trained to rescue lost divers or to locate underwater mines. Military dolphins were used during the First Gulf War.

More controversial rumoured uses of military dolphins include training them to lay underwater mines or to kill enemy combatants, or even civilians, such as Vietnamese skin divers during the Vietnam War. There has even been speculation about the potential development of sophisticated equipment, such as poison darts, sonar jamming devices, and so on for dolphins; and about combat between ceteceans of both superpowers. Such rumours are denied by the U.S. Navy, and there is no evidence anything like it ever occurred.

The Russian military is believed to have closed its marine mammal program in the early 1990's. The U.S. Navy continues to openly train dolphins and sea lions under the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program, which is based in San Diego, California.

In 2005, there were press reports that some US military dolphins based on Lake Pontchatrain had escaped during the Hurricane Katrina flooding. The US Navy dismissed these stories as nonsense or a hoax, though they may be taking on the status of an urban myth.