The things people do!

Why do people even buy piranhas?

On Monday, four boys in Worthington spotted a piranha in the shallows of a drainage ditch near Lake Okabena. Nine-year-old William Somphanthabansouk, not knowing what kind of fish it was, snatched it up with his hands and stowed the South American visitor in his backpack.

Later, the boys compared photos and found it was a piranha.

How did it get there?

The state Department of Natural Resources gets reports of exotic fish several times a year.

People don’t want to kill their aquarium fish, probably because the kids will be sad, and then they dump them into Minnesota waters. A few years ago a person fished one out of Fountain Lake. The tropical fish die when the winter comes.

Somphanthabansouk wasn’t bitten because a lone piranha is rather shy. They usually attack in packs. However, people do get bitten by lone piranhas in a lake, stream or even fountains from time to time.

Dumping piranhas into local waters is plain dumb. Be a responsible adult and make fertilizer out of your unwanted tropical fish.