US plans to transport its military dolphins to Black Sea for the Us-Ukrainian military drills.
http://rt.com/news/us-dolphins-black-sea-896/I wonder how Russian military dolphins will react to meeting their US "partners". Will they band together against humans? They should.
Some quotes for thought:
Twenty dolphins and ten sea lions will take part in the drills, which will last between one and two weeks, spokesman Tom LaPuzza said, as cited by Izvestia newspaper.
The war games are one of eight joint NATO-Ukrainian military exercises scheduled to take place this year.
During their Black Sea stay, the US dolphins will test a new anti-radar system, designed to disorientate enemy sonars. Both sea lions and dolphins will look for mines and military divers, LaPuzza said.
“There must be a very good reason to make the animals travel over such distances in a plane. We shouldn’t forget that a lot of money was invested into their training,” Yury Plyachenko, who commanded the Black Sea Fleet’s military dolphins in 1988-92, told RIA Novosti.
During the USSR, the Soviet Navy planned to take their dolphins to the Mediterranean Sea for training, but the exercise was cancelled under pressure from the international community, he reminded.
The flight from the US Pacific coast to the Black Sea would be harmful for the dolphins, said Konstantin Zgurovsky, head of the maritime program at World Wide Fund Russia.
“Transport by an aircraft, loading and unloading – it’s all stressful for the animals. Strong pressure drops and confined space is unhealthy for the marine mammals,” Zgurovsky stressed.
