I am doing a review of this story from December, 7th 2009 because of how amazing these Sea lions and dolphins are, and how that plays a role in our national security. These marine mammals have actually been used for years during the Vietnam and Iraq wars. They help clear mines from waters and locate enemy swimmers. They don’t actually attack the intruders they find them and mark them. That is what the dolphins the sea lions on the other hand do something a little different. The sea lions are trained to swim up on an intruder with a cuff on its mouth and snap the cuff on their leg. There is a tether attached to the cuff that allows the offending party to be reeled in.
In the 1990s the program lost funding because of the lack of environmental impact studies. Now with their completion the program is in full swing again. The Bremerton Shipyard in Washington’s Puget Sound should be under the protection of 20 or more bottle-nose dolphins and California sea lions to look after around 12 or so of the Navy’s submarines and some 10,000 personal and boatyard workers.
Some 300 marine animals have passed through this program and have been sent out into the field to work from the training facility in San Diego facility. To this day the Navy states that there has never been an in service loss of any marine mammals ever.
New Your Times Original article ~ Navy Enlists Dolphins, Sea Lions to Patrol Waters Near Base
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