Ukraine Dolphins Dead? Aquatic Commandos May Have Starved After Refusing Russian Rations

Ukraine’s military-trained dolphins may have died because the aquatic commandos refused to eat the rations provided by their new handlers after the Russian takeover in Crimea, an official in Kiev said.

Ukraine's sea mammal-training facility fell into Russian hands when Moscow annexed the peninsula by force in 2014, Newsweek magazine reported, and the Ukraine government had demanded the undetermined number of animals be returned since then.

An envoy of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he was recently informed that the dolphins are dead.

Boris Babin, the Ukrainian government's representative in Crimea, claimed the dolphins died "patriotically," refusing to follow orders or eat food provided by the "Russian invaders," The Guardian reported. Babin said the dolphins' reported hunger strike led to their eventual death.

"The trained animals refused not only to interact with the new Russian coaches, but refused food and died some time later," Babin reportedly told the Ukraine newspaper Obozrevatal. "Many Ukrainian soldiers took their oath and loyalty much less seriously than these dolphins."

Russian Duma deputy Dmitry Belik countered, though, claiming that the combat dolphins were actually sold to commercial entities or died of natural causes before 2014, per The Guardian. He charged that Ukraine had already demilitarized the dolphins and had only engaged in commercial activities.

The Russian agency RIA Novosti had previously said its military was "developing new aquarium technologies for new programs to more efficiently use dolphins underwater."

In 2016, Russia did put out a public notice to purchase five dolphins and bought them from Moscow's Utrish Dolphinarium, but never explained why, the newspaper said.

According to the website Jalopnik.com, the United States has maintained a marine mammal program dating back to the 1960s. The animals are used to defend critical infrastructure from swimmer attacks, to locate sunken equipment and to identify mines and underwater explosive devices.

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