End Navy Marine Mammal Program

Today, dolphins and other marine mammals are being used to search the sea for military mines. Their advanced sonar abilities are being exploited for the betterment of armed forces throughout the world. The United States Navy particularly is leading the experiments and programs to use these innocent creatures to detect and report mines. When does the marine Mammal experimentation reach a point where enough is enough? According to many animal rights groups enough was enough to begin with. Richard O’Barry, the dolphin trainer of the hit show “Flipper” was asked to participate with dolphin research for the US Navy in 1960’s. "I like the Navy," O'Barry, a former sailor, said from his Florida home. "But what is wrong with it is using dolphins as 'advanced biological weapons systems.' " (Niiles NPR news 2003) According to the US Navy the dolphins are not treated in any manner that might put them in harms way. Did O’Barry simply make up the idea that dolphins would be used to kill? The answer is no. In March of 2000 the English Times newspaper reported that a group of twenty-seven militarily trained sea mammals, which includes dolphins, Beluga whales, walruses, and sea lions, was flown to an Iranian military base along the Persian Gulf. (Peet, Preston Disinformation.com 2000) This fleet of sea mammals was not only trained in the detection of mines but also in the ability to place mines on ships, to hunt and kill human divers, and even involved in airdrop experiments. “Another trick some of the dolphins know is to stab enemy divers with a harpoon mounted on the animal's back, then drag the diver to the surface impaled upon the point.” (Peet)
Reports of inhumane treatment of dolphins in military research have come from all over the globe. In 1998 the Earth Island Journal reported that scores of dead dolphins washed up on French Mediterranean shores with "an identical, and mysterious wound, a neat, fist sized hole, on the underside of their necks." (Peet) This wound is supposedly from an experiment done by the US Navy that somehow went mysteriously wrong. The Navy is believed to have placed harnesses inside of the dolphin’s neck to push electrodes through their bodies and in turn control the dolphins. Despite the protests of animal rights activists, very few battles have been won in the case of the dolphins. The Progressive Animal Welfare Society that was able to get the Navy to discontinue the use of dolphins in the Puget Sound in 1990. However, many of the experiments done by the Navy are obviously not publicized due to the criticism it would cause. Nothing on the Navy Marine Mammal website suggests any sort of harm could come to the dolphins.
We the people of America ask for the discontinuation of the US Navy's Marine Mammal Program on the basis of animal rights. It is wrong to use animals to destroy life.