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Piranha drama: boy, 8, hooks fearsome exotic fish in Pennsylvania lake
The Guardian • • nation
Key Points:
- An eight-year-old boy, Seamus Coffey, fishing near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, caught a large red-bellied piranha, a species typically found in the Amazon rather than the eastern US.
- Seamus identified the fish as a piranha by watching YouTube videos, a fact confirmed by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
- Officials believe the piranha was released into local waters by someone who had kept it as an exotic pet, highlighting the risks such releases pose to native wildlife.
- The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission emphasized the responsibility of caring for exotic pets and warned against releasing them into the wild, as it can harm both the animals and local ecosystems.
- The Coffey family chose not to release the piranha back into the lake and instead disposed of it humanely.
