Culture

Report of Loose Killer Dolphins a Fraud

Try to contain your disappointment

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A dolphin army with special knives or pistols fixed to their heads is not on the loose in European waters, a Ukrainian newspaper said on Wednesday.

A report in Ria Novosti made the outrageous claim Tuesday that trained dolphins from the Ukrainian Navy—specially outfitted with weaponry—had swam away from their handlers in February, probably hunting for mates.

"Control over dolphins was quite common in the 1980's," Yury Plyachenko, a former Soviet naval anti-sabotage officer, told Ria Novosti. "If a male dolphin saw a female dolphin during the mating season, then he would immediately set off after her. But they came back in a week or so."

The report was a fraud, however, according to Anatoly Gobachev, director of the Ukrainian State Oceanarium.