PIRANHAS LURKING IN THE TOILET - MAN FINDS MAN-EATING PIRANHAS INSIDE BLOCKED DRAINS IN BRITAIN - Water company thinks fish may have been dumped

By Leon Watson Daily Mail

 

Piranha - Photo Extreme Science

Best check under the toilet seat! Homeowners stunned after man-eating PIRANHAS found inside blocked drains in Telford

• Predators found after residents complained about a fishy smell
• Workmen uncovered them in a drain leading to houses in Shrops
• Locals now fear more of the fish could still be alive in their system
• Water company bosses believe they must have been dumped
• Piranhas are known for sharp teeth, and a voracious appetite for meat

Half a dozen piranhas have been pulled from a Midlands sewer after homeowners complained about a fishy smell.  Workmen found the flesh-eating tropical fish in a drain leading to residents' homes in Telford, Shropshire, yesterday.  By the time they were fished out all of them though, they were dead.

 

Water bosses believe that someone had flushed the fish down the toilet when they got bored of keeping them as pets, and claimed they were the killer fish commonly found in South America and not any cold-water species.
 

In a statement, Severn Trent Water said: 'It appears that a nearby resident had been disposing of dead fish, including piranhas, down the toilet and they had blocked the sewers'
 

Severn Trent inspectors, Matt Final and Jay Slater, who were sent to investigate the Telford blockage said: 'We've certainly seen some weird things in the sewers over the years but we were a little shocked to remove piranhas.  You wouldn't think a fish of this size would fit down a toilet, but this is just one example of amazing things we find blocking the sewers.'
 

Locals now fear more of the fish - known for their razor sharp teeth, powerful jaws and a voracious appetite for meat - could still be alive in their sewerage system
 

IT worker Niall Poole,  22, from Madeley, Shrops., said: 'We could have a real-life ‘Piranha 3D' in Telford on our hands, you never know.   'If they've found some piranhas, it is surely feasible that there could be more still alive down there.'

 

Local butcher Jim Hoult, 56, added: 'I might well be checking beneath the toilets seat before I go to the loo now.'
 

Barry Briggs has lived on New Road for five years and has a drain right outside his house. He was forced to call Environmental Health after the drain began to have a fishy whiff.   Mr Briggs said: 'If someone called me up and told me they found pirahnas in the drain last week, I would have thought it was an April Fool's joke.  'As long as they are all dead I don't mind, but I don't like the though of the fish swimming around here- not when I have my pond in my garden.'
 

Workmen Matt Final and Jay Slater, who went to investigate the smelly sewers for Severn Trent, said many of the fish were several inches long.   Mr Final said: 'We've certainly seen some weird things in the sewers over the years but we were just a bit shocked to remove piranhas.  I wouldn't have thought a fish of this size would fit down a toilet.  It is just one example of amazing things we find blocking the sewers, but there is a serious aspect to this as they had the potential to cause a lot of damage.'

 

It is the second time sewers have been blocked in Shropshire this year by rubbish being pushed into toilets - after workers found several pairs of knickers blocking the drains in January. 

 

Severn Trent said it was called to investigate the latest incident after people complained of a fishy smell coming into their homes.  Severn Trent today said blocked sewers are a serious issue. It said three-quarters of the 4,000 blockages in Shropshire last year were found to be caused by people misusing the sewer system.

 

The problem costs Severn Trent more than £10 million per year clearing products and mess from its network.

 

Sue Fulford, customer operations manager for Severn Trent, said: 'Having sewage flooding inside your home due to sewers being blocked is one of the most horrible things that can happen to you, and we don't want our customers to suffer in this way.  The drains that take waste water away from your home are only a few inches wide and are only meant to take water, toilet roll and human waste - certainly not piranhas or pants. 

 

'Toilet roll is meant to break down when it gets wet so it washes easily through the system. That's not the case with things like large tropical fish which can get stuck in smaller drains.  These sewer blockages, if not identified and cleared, can lead to sewers backing up and overflowing into people's homes and gardens.  And it's not necessarily the people who put the wrong things down the toilet that are affected.

 

'The blockage can happen further down the street, so what you do in your home can be causing a problem for your neighbours.  We are spending millions of pounds every year sending teams into sewers with jetting equipment and sometimes even spades to dig out these blockages.  'We ask people to get themselves a bin in their bathroom and use that rather than the toilet.'

About Piranhas

Piranhas are omnivorous freshwater fish native to South American rivers, but they have also been spotted in Bangladesh and China.  They are known for their sharp teeth and a voracious appetite for meat.

 

The exact number of piranha species is unknown, as new species continue to be discovered, but estimates range from 30 to 60.  Piranhas are normally 14cm to 26cm long, though some have been reported up to 43cm in length. 

 

Attacks in the Amazon basin have been on the increase in recent years. In 2011, a drunk 18-year-old man was attacked and killed in Rosario del Yata, Bolivia.  In 2012, a five-year-old Brazilian girl was attacked and killed by a shoal of piranhas, while recurring attacks in Piaui in 2011 resulted in 100 people being injured.

 

Piranha attacks peak in the dry season when there is less food and the water levels are lower.  Fatalities are rare, with the majority of attacks taking the form of bites to the feet and hands.  Splashing tends to make piranhas more likely to attack, explaining why children are often injured during mass attacks of these creatures

Source
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2599772/Best-check-toilet-seat-Homeowners-stunned-man-eating-PIRANHAS-inside-blocked-drains-Telford.html

 

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Extreme Science:  When a school of piranha are in a feeding frenzy the water appears to boil and churn red with blood. They attack with such ferocity that they strip an animal of its flesh within a matter of minutes, even taking bites out of each other in the process.

 

Adult piranha will eat just about anything - other fish, sick and weakened cattle, even parts of people. Sickly cattle that have stooped their heads down to drink from the river have been grabbed by the mouth and nose and pulled into the water, completely devoured minutes later.

As wicked as it all sounds, piranha have a useful function in the Amazonian jungles just like any other predators in the wild. They are part of the checks and balances Mother Nature employs to eliminate the weak and sick so only the strong survive.

 

Believe it or not, there are people who actually keep piranhas as "pets". Piranhas aren't good pets in the traditional sense because you can't hold or pet them, and they aren't affectionate. Piranha owners still must be extremely careful of the fish's sharp teeth and aggressive nature. Keeping them well fed is probably the key to keeping them mellow.

 

Read more
http://www.extremescience.com/piranha.htm

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