By Christina AlexanderThe Daily Northwestern
The U.S. Navy announced Monday that it is considering using dolphins and sea lions to protect one of its bases from terrorist attacks.
About 30 animals have been trained to use sonar to detect unauthorized swimmers, divers and underwater mines in the water surrounding the Washington state base. The dolphins drop a beacon in the water that Navy divers can trace to investigate the situation. The sea lions carry a rope when out patrolling; the rope can be wrapped around suspicious swimmers’ legs and used to pull them into the base for questioning.
As Northwestern considers changes to the university’s safety plan, administrators might want to consider following the military’s example.
The university could dig canals alongside campus sidewalks and allow the sea mammals to patrol the area instead of hiring paid security officers. The dolphins and sea lions would work in shifts; the swimming would double as necessary exercise. Whenever they came across suspicious individuals lurking outside South Campus residence halls or mugging a student outside the library, they would alert University Police. The police arrive quickly on the scene (perhaps in boats or gondolas swiftly traversing the canals), assess the situation and prevent the suspicious individual from harming an NU student or university property.
It’s ingenious. The dolphins and sea lions would work for the price of food and upkeep. The only additional costs would be to heat the canals to keep them at about 58 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature of the water would remind them of their former home in San Diego, Calif., and the memory of sun would keep them from suffering from seasonal depression like the rest of the campus. Lucky them.
The dolphins and sea lions also would work around the clock – no need to deal with creating schedules and assigning shifts – and because their work is really just like what they would do in the wild, animal rights organizations (I hope) would not consider it too strenuous or cruel to animals.
Using dolphins and sea lions instead of professional security forces also creates jobs. Out-of-work student security monitors could help train the dolphins, keep the animals fed, clean the canals and wash the bottoms of UP’s gondolas. By creating these new positions, work study students who formerly earned their allotted money as student monitors can easily find a job within the same industry.
The dolphins also could help earn a portion of the money required for their upkeep and the funds needed to build the new canals by putting on water shows during the summer. With fewer students and faculty on campus, fewer dolphins and sea lions will need to patrol the campus and preserve safety at NU.
The remaining animals could perform nightly shows – which should, of course, always end with a fireworks finale – on Lake Michigan. The university could charge city vendors a small fee to set up booths on the Lakefill and sell their wares to the gathered audiences.
The loveable nature of dolphins might make NU students a little more accepting of the new security measures. Maybe the prospect of summer water shows and really cute dolphins swimming around the university might make up for alarms on doors and fewer exits from residence halls.
There’s no denying that NU administrators have to respond to dangers facing students. They have a responsibility to do the best they can to keep us safe, but they could be trying to make students just a little bit happier at the same time. I can’t remember the last time gondolas, students with jobs and swimming mammals failed to make me smile.
Ultimately, this is a great public relations opportunity that NU should be jumping to take advantage of.
News Editor Christina Alexander is a Medill junior. She can be reached at [email protected].
