Report of Loose Killer Dolphins a Fraud

Try to contain your disappointment

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.