The US Navy used dolphins in the Gulf War. Dolphins were used to help protect the United States’ 7th Fleet during the Vietnam War. Dolphins have been used by NATO to detect mines and shells in the Baltic Sea and off Norway.
The Russians also have a program with marine mammals:
“Marine mammals can be used to protect strategic installations and in anti-terror operations, Academician Gennady Matishov, the director of the Murmansk Marine Biology Institute, told Interfax.
“In our opinion, the use of marine mammals is a very promising aspect of programs to enhance the protection of coastal installation from terror attacks and in monitoring the underwater situation. Marine animals possess a unique ability to locate underwater biological and technical objects in the environment of natural and artificial noises, and in conditions of complex seabed features,” he said
Read more here: http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?menu=1&id_issue=11728546
But the practice is opposed by the Cetacean Society who wrote with respect to the use of dolphins by NATO in 2001:
“The dolphins will locate with echolocation a small fraction of an estimated 80,000 mines and other munitions, and attach marker buoys for retrieval… The U.S. Navy is proud to show what the dolphins can do… [but] the Cetacean Soceity thinks it is immoral exploitation, similar to experimenting with unwitting servicemen exposed to deadly diseases. It makes us wonder sadly what we don’t hear about.”
Other animals have been used in wars. For example, 8 million horses died during WWII.
Is it justified to use animals in warfare?
Ann Novek
Sweden
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Is it justified to use animals in warfare?
The short answer is NO!
Hi Paul,
Why not?
An extension of your position could be that it is wrong to ride horses or train dogs as drug sniffers?
the real question is :Is war justified? If so then any action that shortens the period of war, and/or minimises casualties, is good for man and beast alike. Though not necessarily for dolphins.
During the WWII, the Russians used anti-tank dogs.
They worked as ” suicide bombers”. Quite an uncomfortable read :
Anti-tank dogs, also known as dog bombs or dog mines, were hungry dogs with explosives harnessed to their backs and trained to seek food under tanks and armoured vehicles. By doing so, a detonator (usually a small wooden lever) would go off, triggering the explosives and damaging or destroying the military vehicle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog
Maybe the Cetacean Society poses the right question: It makes as wonder sadly about what we don’t hear about. ( Think they meant how many marine mammals have blown up during training).
People oppose using animals for medical research, too, but it’s necessary. The dolphins in the U.S. Navy were checked and found to be patriotic Americans.
Trained native rats (quite big animals) have been utilised in some African countries for sniffing out land mines.
Whether animals in research are ‘necessary’ or not is whole other area…
Seems the US use patriotic Amercicans to find bombs too.
Some bizarre examples of animal use in warfare:
“Perhaps the most bizarre plan was when the US launched Project X-Ray in World War II – an attempt to attack Japan with bats carrying tiny satchels bearing incendiary devices.
The plan backfired when on a practice run the bats attacked the wrong target, and set fire to a military airfield in New Mexico.
In the recent Afghan conflict troops were on alert for attacks by kamikaze camels strapped with explosives, a tactic the mujahideen used against Soviet troops.
And in the event of a US-led attack on Iraq the US army plans to ride chickens into battle in cages atop Humvees, used as early warning gas detectors.
The US Army calls the strategy Operation Kuwaiti Field Chicken – or KFC – but the plan has been put on hold after 41 of the 43 chickens deployed to the Gulf died within a week of arrival”
But as Travis pointed out there has been a big success in Africa to use bomb sniffing rats.
ann, i would have thought blowing up animals during training would be defeating the purpose of training. A lot of wasted effort, with nothing to show for it.
Hi Rojo,
Methinks accidents/ incidents have happened during military training that we don’t know much about, especially in the beginning of the training programs. Methinks this might be top secret.
Even if the Navy assures us that only very trained marine mammals are used to search for mines, you can actually never trust the animals , see above examples with the dogs and bats etc.
I have heard that some marine mammals have just disappeared from the searching site in the Gulf war, which proves that they really are wild animals longing for freedom…
I’m a little bit split about the question to use the animals as mine searchers , the ethical issue with marine mammals in captivity etc . However, I can see something positive about the big rats in Africa searching for mines….
Article about the mine sniffing African rats:
“The rats are about 75 centimetres long (30 inches) and weigh about 1.35 kilograms (3 lbs). This means they can scamper across a minefield without detonating the charges. ”
” No rat has been killed”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3123119.stm
Hi again Rojo,
As I have never trained marine mammals personally , in contrast to Libby and George , I have no clue what stimuli/ punishment the dolphins / marine mammals receive to avoid mines.
They might be under starvation and then get rewarded with fish etc. to avoid the mines…
ann, I have no experience training marine animals either, but in order to meaningfully punish the trainee has to be aware of the wrongdoing. I just can’t see how starving and food reward would work in this case(didn’t think starving was an option anyway). I’d think more along the lines of electric shock, though I’m not sure if thats possible in water, or a sharp poke if they touch the mine. Perhaps a significant noise would be sufficient.
The marine mammals would likely have been trained using standard positive reinforcement techniques. Negative reinforcement involves with holding food and attention. Punishment is not part of the regime.