An eight-year-old boy fishing with his father in Pennsylvania made an unexpected catch when he reeled in a piranha, a species not native to the area, from a suburban Philadelphia lake. The discovery, confirmed by state wildlife officials, highlights the illegal and harmful practice of people releasing unwanted exotic pets into local waterways, where they can pose risks to native ecosystems and the public.

Seamus Coffey and his father, Michael, were fishing at Ridley Park Lake on Saturday when Seamus's rod snagged an unusually strong catch, which the boy correctly identified as a piranha thanks to videos he had watched on YouTube. Although the pair usually practise catch and release, Michael decided to kill the fish humanely, a decision the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission confirmed was correct, as piranhas are native to South America and would not have survived long in the lake. A commission spokesperson said the fish had likely been kept as a pet before being dumped, warning that abandoning exotic animals in the wild is both illegal and dangerous for the animal and the environment.