[Mike]

Hi Guys
Killer dolphins AOL? Plague infected mice missing and now dolphins
that can shoot toxic darts?
We better keep “our ears to the ground” for any swimmers/divers that
are mysteriously shot with a toxic dart!
Maybe all the dolphins that were found dead of neurotoxin poison
were actually shot during training.
Gosh, I’m surprised the tabloids haven’t had a field-day with this.
Miss you all in a real-time kind of way.
Bridget
http://tinyurl.com/89xhk

Armed and dangerous – Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1577753,00.
html
Mark Townsend in Houston
Sunday September 25, 2005
The Observer

It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot
terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf
of Mexico.

Experts who have studied the US navy’s cetacean training exercises
claim the 36 mammals could be carrying ‘toxic dart’ guns. Divers and
surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be
among the planet’s smartest. The US navy admits it has been training
dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any
are missing.

Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the
Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been
taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal
compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea.
But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the
US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.
Leo Sheridan, 72, a respected accident investigator who has worked
for government and industry, said he had received intelligence from
sources close to the US government’s marine fisheries service
confirming dolphins had escaped.

‘My concern is that they have learnt to shoot at divers in wetsuits
who have simulated terrorists in exercises. If divers or windsurfers
are mistaken for a spy or suicide bomber and if equipped with
special harnesses carrying toxic darts, they could fire,’ he
said. ‘The darts are designed to put the target to sleep so they can
be interrogated later, but what happens if the victim is not found
for hours?’

Usually dolphins were controlled via signals transmitted through a
neck harness. ‘The question is, were these dolphins made secure
before Katrina struck?’ said Sheridan.

The mystery surfaced when a separate group of dolphins was washed
from a commercial oceanarium on the Mississippi coast during
Katrina. Eight were found with the navy’s help, but the dolphins
were not returned until US navy scientists had examined them.
Sheridan is convinced the cientists were keen to ensure the
dolphins were not the navy’s, understood to be kept in training
ponds in a sound in Louisiana, close to Lake Pontchartrain, whose
waters devastated New Orleans.

The navy launched the classified Cetacean Intelligence Mission in
San Diego in 1989, where dolphins, fitted with harnesses and small
electrodes planted under their skin, were taught to patrol and
protect Trident submarines in harbour and stationary warships at
sea.

Criticism from animal rights groups ensured the use of dolphins
became more secretive. But the project gained impetus after the
Yemen terror attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Dolphins have also been
used to detect mines near an Iraqi port.