Smart Fish !

national | miscellaneous | news report Saturday March 29, 2003 09:27 by Sean Daly

Well, I know he's not a fish, he's a mammal ... But he's still smarter than most of the British Army !

London Times:

Takoma the dolphin is Awol
From Daniel McGrory in Umm Qasr


THE US Marines have suffered an embarrassment with reports last night that one of their most prized investigators may have defected.
Takoma, the Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin, had been in Iraq for 48 hours when he went missing on his first operation to snoop out mines.

His handler, Petty Officer Taylor Whitaker, had proudly showed off Takoma’s skills and told how the 22-year-old dolphin was among the most pampered creatures in the American military.

Takoma and his fellow mine hunters have a special diet, regular medical checks and their own sleeping quarters, which is more than can be said for the vast majority of the military whose domestic arrangements are basic, to say the least.