Royal Navy Bombs Killed Pilot Whales

credit: Guardian

A British government report that required four years to compile and releaseconcludes the Royal Navy killed 19 pilot whales with underwater bomb explosions in 2011. The four explosions caused 19 pilot whales to beach on the the north coast of Scotland. DEFRA said the sonic blast damaged their hearing and navigation abilities that causing them to beach and die.

On 22 July 2011 70 long-finned pilot whales swam into the Kyle of Durness, a shallow tidal inlet, east of Europe's largest active bombing range at Cape Wrath. Despite attempts to herd them back out to sea, thiirty-nine were stranded. Twenty whales were refloated with the help of experts and local people, but 19 did not make it. The stranding was the largest in recent years and prompted an official investigation. The long-awaited report is cumulative evidence of the lethality of military sonic emissions, either from munitions or sonar. Three dud 1000 pound and one 250 pound bomb were denotated for safety reasons. The stranding started after the first bombs were exploded. The report concluded the three initial explosions had a significant detrimental effect on the hearing of nearby cetaceans and the forth explosion drove the disoriented whales further inland. Pilot whales are known to follow their leaders and are frightened relatively easily. DEFRA reccomended that in future munitions be disposed of by burning on land, and said the Royal Navy's visual checks for whales were "insufficient". MoD said it accepted the report and would implement reccomendations "where appropriate". How many more whales and dolpins will have to die before the military finally gets the message?