Let’s hope the lawsuit recently filed in California over the Navy’s sonar tests convinces the Navy to take animals’ welfare into consideration. Mounting evidence links sonar tests to many whale strandings around the world. Recently, a 15-foot beaked whale beached herself and was reportedly found dead with bleeding around both ears, likely a result of Navy sonar testing done off the coast of North Carolina. In January, 2005, 37 whales beached themselves and died on the Outer Banks following a similar Navy sonar exercise.
A study published in the journal Nature in 2003 suggested that high-powered sonar from Navy ships appears to give whales and other marine mammals a version of the bends, causing them to develop dangerous gas bubbles in some tissues and blood vessels as well as beach themselves and die. Researchers found a condition similar to decompression sickness in 10 of 14 dead beached whales who were stranded in the Canary Islands soon after an international Navy exercise in 2002.
We’ve put people on the moon. Certainly, we can develop a sonar system that doesn’t harm innocent animals. To learn more, visit www.HelpingWildlife.com.
Stephanie Boyles
Domestic Animal and Wildlife Rescue & Information Department
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)