Do/can animals legally count as "biological weapons"?

Okay, after watching “Aliens” the other day, and examining certain scraps of paper, I finally decided to ask a question that’s been on my mind for awhile…does or can macroscopic animal life legally qualify as “biological weapons”?

Say, for this argument, the U.S. creates…I dunno, a breed of giant mutant attack ants. Or Triffids. Whatever.

Now, the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibits "Microbial or other biological agents, or toxins whatever their origin or method of production, of types and in quantities that have no justification for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes; " and the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention says much the same thing.

The text of the treaties, however, don’t seem exactly geared towards prohibiting the use of vicious animals, though. But then again, IANAL.

So, I ask you…am I going to be a war criminal for dropping xenomorphs on trenchlines? What about, say, using Locusts against crops? Is there a clear enough legal distinction between “weaponized disease” and “plague of hellbeasts”?

The military was experimenting with napalm wielding bats in the forties, so I’d say you’d be alright.

If they’ve been weaponized. :wink:

A quick Googling is bringing up references to marine mammal used to detect enemy divers, explosives , and other handy tasks. Almost fits the OP.

I’ve heard in various animal disease classes that different types of diseases that only attack animals were pondered for use as biological weapons by various countries over the years. The idea was to cripple the agricultural industry of the enemy, making them unable to wage war against you. Not exactly on the OP, but related.

I think whether furry quadrupeds or yeast cells “count as biological weapons” is equivalent to the question of whether the big powers like the US want to feel free to use them.

There was a joke running around after 9-11 that we should drop a bunch of pigs out of airplanes into the area where Bin Laden was presumed to be hiding. The idea being, of course, that the pigs might run into his cave and he, being a devout Muslim, would run out rather than be touched by a pig.

Ridiculous, of course, but it goes to show that with a little ingenuity, it might be possible to utilize animals in an offensive manner without any training or weaponizing at all.

Napalm wielding bats??? I don’t want to hijack the thread but what’s the deal with that??

My Wings are like a Shield of Steel! And my arse is on fire.

IMHO, The biggest reasons why this has not happened yet and is not likley to happen are

  1. Animals are very unreliable. The magician’s maxim of “Never work with children or animals” applies to most walks of life.
  2. We have better ways of achieving the same goals.
  3. Animals as weapons would likely have more impact on civilian targets rather than military ones. Hardly the way a civilised nation behaves.

Not really the same thing, since the Navy dolphins aren’t used as a weapon (that is, offensively). For comparison, if someone developed a bacterium which could be used to detect poisons, that presumably wouldn’t be considered a biological weapon, either, even though it’s a microbe developed for use by the military.

Rats were considered by the Japanese for use in spreading disease in the US.Look about 9/10 of the way down this page.

If I remember right, the Russians trained rats to chew up wiring and other soft parts of vehicles and gear and then dropped them behind German lines. The Germans responded by “drafting” cats into their units. The SS units mandated that their cats must be all black (apocryphal). This backfired on the Soviets when they overran German positions and found themselves subject to sabotage from their own rats.

What about using dogs for attack?

How about sharks with laser beams attatched to their foreheads?

I do recall that there was a battle between the French and the Mexicans which involved a herd of cattle being stampeded through the French lines.

Here ya go—the Bat bomb.

It worked, too.

I like the part where they accidentally set fire to an Army base in New Mexico while working on this. :smack:

Weren’t rotten animal carcasses catapaulted over castle battlements to spread disease back in the day (a la Monty Python’s Holy Grail, but more seriously…) ? Though in this case the microbes would still be the biological weapon, I suppose, with the carcass as a means of delivery.

I am currently trying to get a patent on my weasel catapult. For a little extra you get rabid weasels.