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Piranha Bites Off Girl's Fingertip In Chicago, Illinois

06/23/12 11:41 AM ET  AP

CHICAGO -- Chicago-area parents thought their pit bull was to blame when they heard their 18-month-old daughter crying and discovered one of her fingertips had been severed.

Turns out, the culprit was a piranha the family kept in an aquarium.

Doctors determined the bite wasn't from a dog after the girl was rushed to a hospital by ambulance Tuesday night.

He didn't immediately respond to messages left Saturday by The Associated Press, and a hospital spokesman couldn't provide the information.

Bilecki says the parents were distraught and aren't facing charges.

___

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  • In this handout picture released by Awashima Marine Park, a 1.6 meter long Frill shark swims in a tank after being found by a fisherman at a bay in Numazu, on January 21, 2007 in Numazu, Japan. The frill shark, also known as a Frilled shark usually lives in waters of a depth of 600 meters and so it is very rare that this shark is found alive at sea-level. Its body shape and the number of gill are similar to fossils of sharks which lived 350,000,000 years ago. (Photo by Awashima Marine Park/Getty Images)

  • A shark swims in a tank at the New York Aquarium on August 7, 2001 in Coney Island, New York City. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

  • A June 11, 2009 file photo provided by Elasmodiver shows scientist Eric Hoffmayer of the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Lab in Ocean Springs, Miss., taking fin measurements of a whale shark in the Gulf of Mexico, about 55 miles off the Louisiana coast. Hoffmayer says whale sharks, the world's biggest fish, are particularly vulnerable if they get into the oil slick. That's because, rather than moving up to the surface and down again, they eat by swimming along the surface, sucking in plankton, fish eggs and small fish. (AP Photo/Elasmodiver, Andy Murch, File)

  • Home And Away actor Jon Sivewright launches the new Adventure experience Grey Nurse Shark Feed Dive at Manly's Ocean World on December 18, 2006 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Patrick Riviere/Getty Images)

  • This Saturday, June 26, 2010 photo released by Bruce Sweet shows a juvenile great white shark swimming in the Atlantic Ocean about 20 miles off the coast of Gloucester, Mass., in the rich fishing ground known as Stellwagen Bank. The shark was pulled up by Gloucester-based Sweet Dream III, tagged, and returned to the sea. (AP Photo/www.SportFishingMA.com, Bruce Sweet)

  • A shark swims in a tank at the New York Aquarium August 7, 2001 in Coney Island, New York City. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

  • A shark swim inside a fish tank as a diver, left, cleans the glass at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa, Wednesday, Aug 31, 2011. The Two Oceans Aquarium hosts group activities for school children and students which include the identification and observation of fish and other species. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

  • In this handout picture released by Awashima Marine Park, a 1.6 meter long Frill shark swims in a tank after being found by a fisherman at a bay in Numazu, on January 21, 2007 in Numazu, Japan. The frill shark, also known as a Frilled shark usually lives in waters of a depth of 600 meters and so it is very rare that this shark is found alive at sea-level. Its body shape and the number of gill are similar to fossils of sharks which lived 350,000,000 years ago. (Photo by Awashima Marine Park/Getty Images)

  • In this picture taken on September 3, 2011, an environmental activist releases a baby black-tip shark into the sea as part of an operation organised by the sharks protection group Dive Tribe off the coast of the southern Thai sea resort of Pattaya. On average an estimated 22,000 tonnes of sharks are caught annually off Thailand for their fins -- a delicacy in Chinese cuisine once enjoyed only by the rich, but now increasingly popular with the wealthier middle class. (CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Walter Szulc Jr., in kayak at left, looks back at the dorsal fin of an approaching shark at Nauset Beach in Orleans, Mass. in Cape Cod on Saturday, July 7, 2012. An unidentified man in the foreground looks towards them. No injuries were reported. The previous week, a 12- to 15-foot great white shark was seen off Chatham in the first confirmed shark sighting of the season according to a state researcher. Two more sightings were reported Tuesday, July 2, 2012. The same waters are filled with seals, which draw the sharks because they are a favorite food of the animal. (AP Photo/Shelly Negrotti)

  • This undated photo released by The Galapagos National Park of Ecuador shows a diver alongside a whale shark in the Galapagos Island, Ecuador. (AP Photo/The Galapagos National Park of Ecuador)

  • Blacktip reef shark

    A green sea turtle (R) (Chelonia mydas) swims next to a blacktip reef shark (L) (Carcharhinus melanopterus) in the aquarium of the Haus des Meeres ('House of the Sea'), in Vienna on June 27, 2012. (ALEXANDER KLEIN/AFP/GettyImages)

  • A blacktip reef shark

    A blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) swims in the aquarium of the Haus des Meeres ('House of the Sea') in Vienna on June 27, 2012. (ALEXANDER KLEIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Bonnethead shark

    A Bonnethead shark swims at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, on April 26, 2012.The Aquarium features a collection of over 11,000 animals representing over 500 different species. It focuses on the Pacific Ocean in three major permanent galleries, sunny Southern California and Baja, the frigid waters of the Northern Pacific and the colorful reefs of the Tropical Pacific.The non-profit Aquarium sees 1.5 million visitors a year and has a total staff of over 900 people including more than 300 employees and about 650 volunteers. (JOE KLAMAR/AFP/GettyImages)

  • Blacktip reef shark

    A blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus swims in the aquarium of the Haus des Meeres in Vienna on June 27, 2012. (ALEXANDER KLEIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Baby Nurse Shark Birth Captured on Camera

    The newborn is being kept away from the rest of the sharks at Yantai Haichang Whale and Shark Aquarium.

  • Rare Shark Frenzy Caught On Camera

    A school of feasting sharks was captured on camera just a few hundred meters off shore in Perth, Australia.

  • A blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus mela

    A blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) swims in the aquarium of the Haus des Meeres ('House of the Sea') in Vienna on June 27, 2012. AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER KLEIN (Photo credit should read ALEXANDER KLEIN/AFP/GettyImages)

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CHICAGO -- Chicago-area parents thought their pit bull was to blame when they heard their 18-month-old daughter crying and discovered one of her fingertips had been severed. Turns out, the culprit wa...
CHICAGO -- Chicago-area parents thought their pit bull was to blame when they heard their 18-month-old daughter crying and discovered one of her fingertips had been severed. Turns out, the culprit wa...
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08:58 PM on 12/11/2012
Sounds like these two need the "Who's Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" Parental Aptitude Testing..........
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
Fortune27
Loving the ride...
11:02 AM on 06/27/2012
A pit bull and a piranha in the same house as a toddler. Some people should just pass on having babies. They just don't seem able to put their children's safety first and foremost.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ChezBaker
I got mine Vs. I got yours
12:21 PM on 06/26/2012
I guess the parents did not raise that piranha right!
12:06 PM on 06/26/2012
Pit Bulls have been proven to be capable of being wonderful, obedient pets. Piranhas, not so much.
12:04 PM on 06/26/2012
The piranha is obviously the one guarding their house.
10:16 AM on 06/26/2012
Why would anyone keep a piranha as a pet?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
George McAulay
Delighted to meet you
03:44 AM on 06/26/2012
Time to make fish fingers out of that little nasty
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
BloodyBuddyBoyd
02:11 AM on 06/26/2012
Piranha and pit bulls. Perfect home for a toddler. Some people just shouldn't even think about having children. Guess the baby has its own rattlesnake to sleep with.
10:52 AM on 06/26/2012
The Dog is ok. At least it isnt one of the viscous breeds. Research shows Pit Bulls to be loving and protective of children. Fish do not form attachments and would only see a finger as a worm to eat.
01:05 AM on 06/26/2012
If I was the girl, I wouls sue the government for allowing her parents to have such a pet. Also the aquarium company should not have had such a big opening for her to put her arm in. I wouls also sue the pet store where the fish originally lived, they should have warned us that if you stick your hand in a pirahna tank, the fish will bite it.
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LivelyLexie
Don't panic.
09:14 AM on 06/26/2012
Sue the pet store? For what? Who in their right mind doesn't know that piranhas bite people?
09:50 AM on 06/26/2012
lively who in their right mind doesnt know that a cup of coffee will burn you yet a woman still sued mcdonalds over that. also I think doot was just being a smartass. a funny one I might add.
08:03 PM on 06/26/2012
doesnt matter, who in their right mind doesn't know coffee is hot?
12:59 AM on 06/26/2012
AQUARIUMS ARE NOT IMMUNED TO CHICAGO THUG POLITICS, KID IS PROBABLY A REPUBLICAN
12:59 AM on 06/26/2012
I hope the fish is ok
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
11:46 PM on 06/25/2012
This family have been my next door neighbors in the last six places I lived, including when I did ninety days in County. I can't believe what you ignorant haters are saying about such decent, loving people at this time.

And by the way, before someone brings up the PREVIOUS UNRELATED INCIDENT, the truth is that they only left that other little girl sitting blind-folded on the edge of the Grand Canyon with a disposable lighter and glass full of gasoline for *one minute,* while they hiked back to the car to feed their cat. To their Wolverines.

No one could have predicted what happened.

So all you have no room to criticize the situation....it was an accident and the family is so devasted by all this so please stop and take their feelings into consideration as well....They are amazing parents who are now dealing with a sad unfortunate need to have their beloved piranha's stomach pumped due to the risk from toxic sparkles in their daughter's nail polish.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
nancestef
Remember the Lost of Sandy Hook Elementary
12:36 PM on 06/26/2012
Gotta fan ya for this...brilliant! LOL!
mistergg69
obama 2012
09:56 PM on 06/25/2012
They win PARENTS OF THE YEAR AWARD
09:39 PM on 06/25/2012
i know this family really well and this was a freak accident....for one the pit is super friendly and it has grown up around the children....the pit doesnt even bark at other dogs when walking him...the child was sitting on the couch watching elmo playing with a toy while the mother got up to go to the bathroom....within a minute the toddler dropped her toy into the tank and her finger got bitten off...the mom was to frantic and traumatized to even realize what happend....so its not like the mother was neglecting her child she simply just got up for not even a minute...so all you have no room to criticize the situation....it was an accident and the family is so devasted by all this so please stop and take their feelings into consideration as well....They are amazing parents who are now dealing with a sad unfortunate accident!!!!!!!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
George McAulay
Delighted to meet you
03:49 AM on 06/26/2012
Most aquariums have mains voltage pumping and filter systems as well as lights.

They definitely have to be kid proofed.

Whilst it could have happened to anyone were these parents aware of a piranha's reputation?
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nfatt1
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
08:57 PM on 06/25/2012
Didn't the parents watch the movie ?