When Piranhas Attack!

I couldn’t even post the pics here because they’re far too gruesome. Click here if you really want to see them!

Thanks Brian!

Piranhas in Joliet?

According to Chicagoist.com, D.J. Johnston caught what may be a red-bellied piranha while fishing in the Des Plaines River last week. An expert at the Shedd Aquarium, who studied a photograph of the fish, agreed the fish was likely a piranha. Shedd spokeswoman Melissa Kruth says the fish was probably a pet that was freed by an it’s owner.

Piranhas can do some serious damage. Exhibit A…

Thanks Lauren!

Woman Forced to Swim With Piranhas!

Police have closed down a circus in southern Italy after a terrified 19-year-old woman was forced to swim in a tank full of piranhas, while her younger sister endured the company of snakes and tarantulas.

The three men accused of running the “circus of horrors” have been arrested and charged with holding the Bulgarian women as slaves.

The circus owner’s daughter told police that a Bulgarian couple and their two daughters, aged 19 and 16, had been held as slaves “in a state of fear” since January and were forced to work 15 to 20 hours a day for $150 a week.

An appalled spectator tipped off the police after seeing the show, in which Giusi, the 19-year-old, tried to escape from the piranha tank “trembling with terror”.

[source]

Man Catches Piranha in NC River

Jerry Melton was fishing in the Catawba River in Gaston County, NC when he reeled in a fish with a rather odd bite. Turned out that fish was a 1 pound, 4 ounce piranha.

Melton said he didn’t know what he had caught until a fellow fisherman told him.

“Actually, there was a guy down there and he said ‘that might be a piranha’, and, you know, I said… ‘that ain’t no piranha… they ain’t got piranha around here’,” said Melton.

Piranhas are illegal to possess in North Carolina. A wildlife officer said whoever owned the piranha probably dumped it in the river when they got tired of it.

[source]