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| Iraq |
| Navy sea lions guarding the gulf |
| 2003-02-21 |
| The latest secret agents in the war against terrorism have slipped into this Persian Gulf port armed with remarkable powers to detect and detain any enemy bent on imperiling U.S. ships or sailors. But unlike most of their colleagues, these undercover operatives are honking about their exploits. A yelping brood of Navy-trained sea lions has settled into these strategic waters, where an armada has massed in the tense U.S.-Iraq standoff that looks ever more likely to lead to war. Graduates of the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego, the sea lions have been flown here to help the Harbor Patrol Unit guard the headquarters of the Navy's 5th Fleet against underwater saboteurs. "They're very vocal animals. It's a good sign when they make noise, because it shows they're getting comfortable," said Brenda Bryan, head trainer of the animals slithering around the Navy's special operations pier. She and three others accompanied the sea lions from San Diego and will serve as a liaison to the patrol and special operations teams. Zak, a 385-pounder, hammed it up for TV cameras last week, performing thank-you dives from his floating pen after feedings and giving Bryan a high-one with a flipper. In their sentry work, the sea lions are trained to alert humans when they detect an intruding diver and to mark the intruder with a "restraint device" -- a C-shaped clamp the animal attaches to the diver's leg like a handcuff. The sea lion then deploys a floating marker attached to the clamp before swimming away to accolades and safety. "Sea lions can operate in shallow-water environments. They can see in near-darkness, and they have multidirectional hearing — all capabilities that humans don't have," said Lt. Josh Frey, a 5th Fleet public affairs officer and Los Angeles native. The animals have other advantages over humans. They can swim 25 mph and dive repeatedly — as deep as 1,000 feet — without tiring, said Cmdr. John Wood. They are better suited to the work in the gulf than are dolphins, which have been part of naval undersea warfare exercises for four decades, because they adapt better to the region's higher temperatures and shallow harbors. Sea lions can even pursue a fleeing suspect onto dry land. Neither Frey nor the San Diego training center's spokesman, Tom LaPuzza, would say how many of the California sea lions are being used, citing security. Only two were visible during their media debut last week. But the program has prepared 20 sea lions for the search-and-detain missions, as well as for mine recovery and defusing. "They're not looking for mines in the gulf. They're looking for divers," LaPuzza said, noting that the animals are capable of mine clearing but will be tested in their first conflict only on their skills at intruder apprehension. The sea lions are already at work patrolling the Navy's pier at Mina Salman, just east of here, but they haven't yet discovered any intruders, Wood said. The animals are, in effect, on trial for the next few weeks to determine whether the skills they learned can be replicated in the field. If so, LaPuzza said, the sea lions here could be permanently attached to the 5th Fleet harbor patrol. If not, they will be flown back to San Diego for more training. Navy handlers say the animals are relatively safe because their activities are performed too quickly to allow enemy retaliation. "The animals are treated pretty well. They are very valuable to us for the capabilities they provide and because they save lives," Wood said. |
| Posted by:Dar Steckelberg |
| #7 You pegged it, Fred. |
| Posted by: Tom Roberts 2003-02-22 10:13:50 |
| #6 Why on earth would they release this information? "Hey! Look over there! Is that Elvis?" |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-02-21 22:20:59 |
| #5 Why on earth would they release this information? Sea Lions are mammals and thus easy targets. The end result of this will be the enemy slaughtering all sea lions in the hopes of killing one or two trained ones. What was the point of releasing this info??? How stupid! I wonder if that's why they kept washing up on the beaches in CA with bullet holes in their heads. Maybe some idiot put out a press release bragging about their use in smuggling operations or some such thing. Some people have no common sense. |
| Posted by: becky 2003-02-21 21:20:13 |
| #4 Sorry, the PETAs wouldn't die fast enough to serve as a useful warning. |
| Posted by: Dishman 2003-02-21 15:39:12 |
| #3 "...we could use trained Orcas. Of course, they'd be a lot more expensive to feed." Not if you train them to eat divers without the proper IFF sonar bleeper... |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-02-21 15:10:38 |
| #2 I also read the other day that the ground guys will be going in with chickens in cages (I wish I could find the link) using the canary in a coalmine priciple for gas attacks. Can't wait until PETA gets hold of that. Maybe they'll volunteer to be human gas detectors to spare the chickens. I'm all for that. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-02-21 14:43:13 |
| #1 If we really wanted to make an impression on enemy divers, we could use trained Orcas. Of course, they'd be a lot more expensive to feed. |
| Posted by: Patrick Phillips 2003-02-21 14:42:38 |