U.S. Navy Mulls Use Of Dolphins for Security
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LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Navy wants to bolster security at a West Coast military base by deploying dozens of dolphins and sea lions trained to detect and intercept waterborne attackers.
The mammals would scour the sea for risks and alert officials to terrorist swimmers and divers targeting Kitsap-Bangor naval base near Seattle, Wash.
It is examining several options, but the favorite plan would involve sending around 30 California sea lions and Atlantic bottlenose dolphins from the Navy’s Marine Mammal Program, based in San Diego. When a Navy dolphin detects someone in the water, it drops a beacon that alerts an interception team to the swimmer’s location.
Sea lions, meanwhile, carry special cuffs attached to long ropes in their mouths to “arrest” rogue swimmers.
