Give animals an honorable discharge

As a former Navy lieutenant junior grade and surface warfare

officer deployed to the Arabian Gulf in 1991 and 1998, I have the

deepest respect for our military and fully understand the need to

protect our troops. But using dolphins and sea lions to intercept

terrorists and detect mines in the Persian Gulf is cruel and should

be stopped immediately.

The use of these animals has garnered much media interest, but

lost in the public relations shuffle is the fact that dolphins and

other animals would never voluntarily give up their freedom to

participate in a war that is completely beyond their comprehension.

War is a human endeavor. Animals know nothing of al-Qaida or Saddam

Hussein or the conflict in the Middle East.

They are very much like civilians caught in the crossfire, and

it is wrong to deliberately put those who are at our mercy in

harm’s way. They often pay with their lives. The chickens who

shipped out with soldiers last month because, according the

military, they might detect poison gas, are all dead now. They

gasped out their final breaths without ever warning anybody of

anything, victims of a climate and level of stress unnatural to

them.

It’s unclear what will happen to the sea lions and

dolphins. But of the nearly 5,000 dogs who were sent with American

troops to Vietnam, only about 200 came home. Some were killed in

action. The rest, to our military’s everlasting shame, were

simply left behind to fend for themselves not much of a reward for

military service.

Even if one ignores the feelings and rights of the animals, it

seems strange that a country like ours, with the strongest, most

advanced military in the world, relies on animals to protect the

men and women now risking their lives in Iraq. With today’s

technology, there must be far more effective ways of detecting

mines and chemical weapons. One of my colleagues at People for the

Ethical Treatment of Animals, Ravi Chand, is a Marine Reservist

currently serving in Iraq. I doubt the animals, now also in

harm’s way, will help to bring Ravi home safely.

Dolphins and sea lions cannot offer a reliable defense or

surveillance for our troops. These are intelligent animals who have

minds of their own, but they have no idea that lives will be lost

if they fail to properly perform their “missions.”

Takoma, one of the dolphins charged with hunting for mines in the

Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, recently went missing for 48 hours. Delbert

“Ace” Summey, head the Littoral Warfare Technology and

Systems Department at the Naval Coastal Systems Station, has

acknowledged that “dolphins can’t handle all of the

mine warfare problems.”

The military has developed sophisticated sonar and robotic

systems to hunt for mines. These represent the future. Dolphins and

sea lions should be left to create their own futures.

It’s time for U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to

give the animals used by the military an honorable discharge.

---

William Rivas-Rivas is a campaign coordinator

for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, 501 Front Street,

Norfolk, Va. 23510,

“http://www.PETA.org”>www.PETA.org.

 

 

 

 

 

William Rivas-Rivas
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
Knight Ridder Tribune Forum

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