Ukraine’s military dolphins now swim for Vladimir Putin.
The dolphins trained at Crimean city Sevastopol since the 1960s are perhaps the most unusual spoils of victory following Russia’s annexation of the strategic Black Sea peninsula.
The program trains dolphins to attach buoys to targets such as mines, attack enemy scuba divers and penetrate enemy perimeters, Russian news outlet RIA Novosti reported.
There are only two such military dolphin programs in the world. The other is run by the U.S. Navy in San Diego.
The Ukrainian government had been set to end its program next month, but Russia intends to carry it on.
“The oceanarium’s engineers are developing new instruments for new applications to boost the operational efficiency of the dolphins underwater,” an employee told RIA.
“Our experts have developed new devices, which convert the detection of objects by the dolphins’ underwater sonar to a signal on an operator’s monitor.”
The U.S. military’s Marine Mammal Program has been in operation for more than 40 years, The New York Times reported in 2009.
Both sea lions and dolphins are used to patrol restricted waters.
Dolphins’ sonar and sea lions’ excellent vision and hearing underwater is superior to any military technology, advocates of the program say.
