Does sonar "kill" dolphins?

Question

Thirty-two dolphins beached themselves in the shallow waters off an English river Monday. Twenty-6 of them died.

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=8466686&nav=AbC0

Could the navy´s sonar activites have caused this?

Answer 1

I've heard that it does confuse them so much that it can lead to events like those you have described?

Answer 2

Cakes they say in today's papers here in the UK that it was mass suicide,cause they found mud in the Dolphins lungs,but not every one agrees,some say it's Killer Whales that scared them and other's blame the Navy,so we will never know for sure will we????xxxx

Answer 3

lets hope that they dont invent one that can kill humans

Answer 4

Thanks for sharing,

I didn't realise that sonar was the cause of this, but it makes sense.

Hopefully more people will get to hear about this.

Answer 5

I would not be surprised if it was, it's sad , they are such wonderful, intelligent and gracious animals

Answer 6

Yes, and the blame it on global warming

The Royal Navy says it is "extremely unlikely" that a ship using side-scan sonar to map the seabed 14 miles off the coast was in involved in the mass-stranding. Lol

Do they forget we all know they talk to each other with sonar? :/

Bloody f**s

Answer 7

Yes, the navy's sonar killed the dolphins. It messed with their own sonar, they became confused with their surroundings and then stranded themselves where they suffered a long and painful death.

The navy was solely responsible for the death of those 26 dolphins. It's upsets me immeasurably when animal rights are blatantly ignored.

This site will tell you why and how navy sonar kill and injure marine animals:

http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/marine/sona...

Answer 8

Extract from local newspaper, Cornish Guardian.

CONCERN is mounting that Royal Naval exercises could be responsible for the deaths of 26 dolphins off the Roseland peninsula on Monday.

Despite initial denials of involvement by the Royal Navy, the Ministry of Defence confirmed it was carrying out live firing exercises in Falmouth Bay just hours before the dolphins beached themselves in the Fal Estuary.

Marine experts, who say it is one of the worst cases of mass stranding ever in the UK, said the real reason for the disaster may never be known, but the animals could have been panicked by an underwater disturbance.

Suspicion centres on sonar activity and firing by Royal Navy training ships and a submarine which were known to be in the area.

Live firing exercises had been heard by Roseland residents for two to three weeks, day and night. There were also reports of an explosion in Falmouth Bay over the weekend