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Armed Dolphins Released Into Gulf of Mexico

Posted by Zonk on from the flippered-and-dangerous dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Guardian is reporting on what may be the weirdest Hurricane Katrina story yet. Military trained dolphins may have been released into the wild by the Hurricane's devastation." From the article: "Experts who have studied the U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly."

5 of 534 comments (clear)

  1. Movie plot by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This sounds like a plot right out of a B sci-fi action movie; the kind where you go, "nah, that can't happen".

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    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Movie plot by operagost · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Because it can't. In order to believe this story, we're to believe that not only has the U.S. military trained dolphins to attack divers, but

      Out of many thousands of miles of U.S. coastline, they picked New Orleans, which is below sea level and prone to flooding;

      They were not smart enough to evacuate these valuable and dangerous animals before the hurricane;

      They didn't bother to remove the weapons from the animals;

      They didn't even think to UNLOAD the weapons. Apparently, these dolphins swim around fully armed, 24-7!

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      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  2. could be... by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns.

    And every military aircraft that flies 'could be' carrying nuclear weapons.

    But they arent.

    1. Re: could be... by Lexomatic · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Naval Dolphin Trainer 1: Hey, dude?

      Naval Dolphin Trainer 2: Yeah?

      Naval Dolphin Trainer 1: The mother of all hurricanes is about to come down on us.

      Naval Dolphin Trainer 2: So?

      Naval Dolphin Trainer 1: You think we should strap-up our dolphins with a full rack of poison dart guns right about now?

      Naval Dolphin Trainer 2: Hey dude! Good idea! *goes off to the munitions locker*

      Now I know the military can be stupid sometimes, but surely not stupid enough to have their trained killer dolphins armed up during an incoming major hurricane?

      Seriously?

  3. Oh, ok. Right. This is believable. by bazonkers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are you trying to tell me that these dolphins are sitting around in their tanks with 'toxic dart' guns attached to them AT ALL TIMES? Do they shoot these darts from their asses? I can believe that maybe there are trained dolphins, and maybe they escaped, but that they can shoot unsuspecting divers with toxic dart guns?
    Please. What a craptastic, misleading headline for Slashdot. I don't comment much here on Slashdot but in the name of all that is holy, who posts this crap?

    At least it's not a dupe, yet.