East Cape News (Grahamstown)
Taralyn Bro
26 March 2003
Grahamstown — Using dolphins as living mine seekers in the war against Iraq elicited mixed reactions from Eastern Cape animal rights activists yesterday.
The Herald and Daily Dispatch printed photographs of a US naval sergeant and his bottlenose dolphin, "K-Dog", which had a small video camera strapped to a flipper, leaping out the water while clearing mines in the sea outside the fallen Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.
The water was being cleared to allow humanitarian aid shipments through. ECN learned that trained dolphins have been used by the military since World War 2 when the Soviets had dolphins at every sea port who were trained to jump out the sea after sighting a mine.
Ardent dolphin rights activist Nan Rice, of the Dolphin Action and Protection Group, said from Cape Town yesterday that practise had been going on "for years".
While Rice was "not in favour" of it, but noted that the practise had progressed from using dolphins to physically place limpet mines on enemy ship hulls, to mine clearing.
She said the dolphins are kept captive and "conditioned" to find mines using a food-reward system.
She made the point that it was abhorrent for "any animal" to be used in battle.
East London SPCA manager Marie Eekhout was "not happy" about the practise, but pointed out it was acceptable to use animals for some social purposes, such as using dogs to sniff out arms, guide the blind and cart their shopping and to protect people.
She said navy-trained dolphins were "exceptionally well-treated".
In Port Elizabeth, Bayworld curator Linda Clokie was full of praise for the military mammals.
She said: "These dolphins have mastered their environment. Dolphins are incredibly intelligent. They are able to learn tasks with ease and enjoyment. These dolphins are in the open sea and are free to swim off at any stage and yet they stay with the hands that feed them, care for them." And send them trustingly down into deadly waters ...
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