Hamas has arrested a dolphin for being an Israeli spy

Well this is flipper-ing unbelievable.

A dolphin has been arrested by the Palestinian group Hamas for spying on them on behalf of the Israelis, with its 'suspicious movements' drawing the attention of naval commandos.

Yeah, we know what you're thinking; this can't be real - surely it's just paranoia on the part of Hamas? Well, you think that, until we tell you that the animal had been outfitted with a camera and an 'underwater monitoring device' which was capable of firing small arrows. Incredible.

The dolphin was believed to be acting on behalf of the Israeli spy agency Mossad and gathering footage of the naval training exercises of Hamas' militant wing, Eziddin al-Qassam which were taking place just off the shore of the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds reported the events and, amazingly, this is not the first time that animals have been suspected of aiding and abettting espionage. 2007 saw Iran arrest a series of squirrels that were allegedly fitted with surveillance equipment by Israel, with two pigeons detained in the following year. Meanwhile, a stork was jailed in Egypt on suspicion of being an agent of Mossad. It was released, but sadly later killed. Perhaps it had been stalked/storked.

Dolphins are no stranger to government work, however; the US Navy has trained dolphins, as well as sea lions, since the 1960s to detect underwater mines. In the UK, documents declassified in 2012 showed that MI5 had investigated the possibility of using 'radio-controlled' piegons to use shortly after the Second World War. Sadly, the plans never came to fruition.

We are hoping that the captured dolphin will eventually be released, or at least treated humanely dolphinanely while it's under suspicion. At least the Israeli's know it won't talk; one considerable advantage it has over its human counterparts.

[via The Daily Beast]

(Image: Shutterstock)