oddly enough

oddly enough

Pet piranha bites off Illinois toddler’s fingertip

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.

Cook County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Frank Bilecki tells the Chicago Tribune the girl’s father cut open one of two piranhas and found the fingertip.

He says doctors tried to reattach the fingertip, but he didn’t know if they were successful.

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.

Oil, soap used to free stuck baby raccoon in Michigan

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich.

A baby raccoon that got stuck head-first in a sewer grate is free thanks to the quick and slippery work of some city workers in suburban Detroit.

The Detroit Free Press reports that Dearborn Heights Department of Public Works Director Bill Zimmer was in his front yard Wednesday when he noticed the critter.

He called fellow Public Works employees for help. They used vegetable oil and dish soap to free the raccoon.

A release from Dearborn Heights says the crew took the raccoon to the Public Works yard for a “much-needed shower” before letting it go in the woods.

The animal was OK after the ordeal.

Police use luggage cart to move Pa. fight suspect

CORAOPOLIS, Pa.

Police say they had to use a luggage cart to remove a man from a hotel near Pittsburgh International Airport after he reportedly fought with police.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for 41-year-old William Henry Crisman, of North Fayette Township. Calls to Crisman’s home phone didn’t go through Friday, and he faces a preliminary hearing July 3 on charges including aggravated assault and resisting arrest.

Moon Township police say they responded to the Airport Marriott about 4 p.m. June 11 for a complaint about an unpaid cab fare. An officer who went to Crisman’s room to get the money says the man instead told the officer to “put gloves on if he wanted to dance.”

Police say Crisman spat and kicked at police before hotel staff supplied a cart to wheel the handcuffed man away.

Associated Press