How Cool is This???

[Timber Loftis]

UMM QASR, Iraq, March 25 — Forget precision bombs, unmanned spy-planes and high-tech weaponry, the U.S. army is about to unveil its most unlikely mine detector — all the way from Florida, the Atlantic Bottle-Nosed Dolphin.

AT THE SOUTHERN Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, secured by U.S and British forces after days of fighting, soldiers made last-minute preparations on Tuesday for the imminent arrival of a team of specially trained dolphins to help divers ensure the coastline is free of danger before humanitarian aid shipments can dock.
U.S. Navy Captain Mike Tillotson told reporters that three or four dolphins would work from Umm Qasr, using their natural sonar abilities to seek out mines or other explosive devices which Iraqi forces may have planted on the seabed.
“They were flown over on a military animal transporter in fleece-lined slings,” Tillotson said. “We keep them in a certain amount of water. They travel very well.”
Staff Sergeant Justin Roberts escorts K-Dog back to the well deck and holding areas aboard the USS Gunston Hall March 18.
“They will be given restaurant quality food and vitamins, and they will work out of wells which we’ve set up here.”
Tillotson said the dolphins were trained not to swim up to mines, but to place a marker a small distance away, minimizing any danger to themselves.
Several mines were discovered last week on the back of ships along the Faw peninsula, but teams of divers searching around Umm Qasr port since Monday have not found any embedded mines.

© 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written

[khazadman]

I remember seeing a demonstration of this kind of thing when I was a kid living in Hawaii. It was around 1968-69.

[john]

I heard that "pigs" were also very intelligent! Maybe we could get a few to sniff out the "weapons of mass destruction" everyones looking for!

[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by john: I heard that "pigs" were also very intelligent! Maybe we could get a few to sniff out the "weapons of mass destruction" everyones looking for!

Or maybe help those of us who troll on forums and/or ignore instructions from webmasters and mods sniff out a CLUE. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Animal]

Interesting idea. It does, however, open up a whole new can of worms with the animal rights activists. You'd think that the US government would want to keep this quiet for a while longer to prevent further protesting.

[Ronn_Bman]

Originally posted by john: I heard that "pigs" were also very intelligent! Maybe we could get a few to sniff out the "weapons of mass destruction" everyones looking for!

Wow! Thanks for that amazingly intelligent insight.

It's comments like this that really make our forum special. People like you, taking the time to actually discuss the issues that are important to them instead of resulting to spewing silly statements because they realize they can't discuss the issue intelligently.

It's happens at other sites all the time, but fortunately people like you are really willing to discuss an issue.

[ 03-25-2003, 07:55 PM: Message edited by: Ronn_Bman ]

[Ronn_Bman]

Originally posted by Animal: Interesting idea. It does, however, open up a whole new can of worms with the animal rights activists. You'd think that the US government would want to keep this quiet for a while longer to prevent further protesting.

These animals aren't sacrified. They ID the mines without activating them. They save lives.

These animals have been in use for military and non-military uses for decades, so it's nothing new.

People who would protest this use, would protest people using seeing eye dogs.

[skywalker]

Have I missed something here? What has John done here lately?

Mark

[Animal]

Originally posted by Ronn_Bman: Quote: Originally posted by Animal: Interesting idea. It does, however, open up a whole new can of worms with the animal rights activists. You'd think that the US government would want to keep this quiet for a while longer to prevent further protesting.

These animals aren't sacrified. They ID the mines without activating them. They save lives.

These animals have been in use for military and non-military uses for decades, so it's nothing new.

People who would protest this use, would protest people using seeing eye dogs. [/QUOTE]I know that and you know that, but there's always somebody somewhere willing to protest just about anything.

[Ronn_Bman]

Originally posted by Animal: I know that and you know that, but there's always somebody somewhere willing to protest just about anything.

That's too true.