#Repost @respectanimalrights ・・・ The Russian Ministry of Defense wants to buy five bottlenose dolphins, according to an acquisition tender. It would not disclose why it needs the aquatic mammals, who can be trained as combatants. The military want three males and two females to be shipped to Sevastopol before August 2016, the terms of the tender say. The animals must be three to five years old and measure 2.3 to 2.7 meters long. They must be caught under the supervision of a professional vet specializing in aquatic mammals and kept in quarantine by the seller for one month before being transported to the military in seawater tubs. Bids are being collected until the end of the month, and the ministry is offering to pay about $4,900 per dolphin. The price may exclude some foreign sellers from the deal – in 2013 Japanese dolphin brokers sold 20 untrained dolphins to Ukraine at a price of just over $10,000. The ministry may be counting on the seller to catch the dolphins locally in the Black Sea, although this would require special permission as bottlenose dolphins living there are protected by conservation agreements. #stoprussia #stopthetrade #leavethembe #stopslaughter #stopthehunt