NATION : Navy Allegedly Arms Dolphins
Bottlenose dolphins with .45-caliber guns mounted on their snouts are being trained by the U.S. Navy to kill enemy frogmen, it was reported today.
Former trainer Rick Trout told the Miami Herald that the dolphins are being taught to ram the unloaded, cone-like firing devices into test targets. Trout said the secret Navy exercises are being conducted at Key West, Fla.; San Diego, and Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
The firing device, which triggers on impact, is part of the Navy’s program to use dolphins as guards at the Trident nuclear submarine base in Bangor, Wash., said Trout, a civilian who worked under contract with the Navy from 1985 to 1988.
Lt. James Wood, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, declined to comment on the nose-gun allegations.
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