Fortunately, no human has been seriously injured, but it's only a matter of time, I fear, when warmer weather arrives and tragedy strikes.
The recent reports of piranha in Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge have game and fish authorities concerned, but also urging the public not to panic. Unfortunately, that's little comfort to the sportsmen and other outdoors enthusiasts who frequent the area at the juxtaposition of Bradley, Union and Ashley counties.
"We aren't completely certain that what we have here is piranha," Brian Agnatha, Arkansas state ichthyologist, said last week. "In fact, the alleged attacks may well have been by alligator gar or any of several ganoid fishes of the genus Lepisosteus . At any rate, we're certain the instances are isolated and will most likely not occur again."
The attacks Agnatha referred to took place Jan. 20 on Lake Jack Lee and were witnessed by several hunters from nearby Crossett.
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"At first we just though it was a buck that had its leg caught under the water," Horace Dupree told the El Dorado News Times in a copywrited story last week. "But when we saw all that blood boiling up we knew it was something more. The water was churning like crazy and in a matter of minutes there was nothing left but a bag of bones and a 12-point trophy rack. My friend Wallace took it home and mounted it in his den."
Law enforcement officials in neighboring Louisiana have reported two similar instances in recent weeks. Morehouse Parrish sheriff's deputies say an anonymous tipster claimed he lost a 70-pound coon dog in bottomland along the Ouachita River only four miles below Felsenthal Lock & Dam.
"It all sounds like a combination of overactive imaginations and a little liquid fortitude," Agnatha said. "Piranha prefer the much more temperate climate of equatorial waters like the Amazon or the Orinoco in Venezuela."
When pressed, however, Agnatha would not rule out the possibility that piranha had found their way to southern Arkansas.
"Sure, I guess anything's possible," Agnatha admitted, "but even if these `attacks' were by piranha, I doubt the fish wou ld survive the entire winter in Lake Jack Lee. If they were (piranha), they were more than likely put in the lake by pranksters and like the alligators in the sewers thing, these rumors soon take on a life of their own."
Others do not share Agnatha's nonchalance and are taking prudent precautions.
"We'll have signs posted at Moro Bay State Park," said one official who asked to remain anonymous. "That's were we're really expecting our first trouble come spring. The Saline (River) is much too swift to accommodate piranha, but the Ouachita up to about Sparkman (Dallas County) is ideal."
Moro Bay, in southwestern Bradley County, is about 12 miles up the Ouachita River from where the hunters witnessed the deer incident. The official voiced concern that swimmers, lured into a false sense of security, could be attacked and overwhelmed without warning.
"I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror if some little girl or boy got eaten up and we hadn't warned people to watch out," he said.
Assistant curator Wolfgang Schultze, an expert in the carnivorous fish's behavior patterns, was contacted at the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans and offered these observations.
"Piranha often hunt alone," Schultze stated, "but in times of drought, when food is scarce, the piranha become ravenous and congregate in packs. They will send out a scout fish to select a victim. The scout will take a small bite and the blood will attract the pack, which can range from 20 or 30 up to 800 fish. They have been known to strip a fully grown cow to nothing but bone in eight minutes."
Schultze noted that there were 25 species of piranha, but only three have been known to attack man.
"If you've got the red-bellied piranha up there -- the Serrasalmus nattereri -- then you've got quite the little mons ter on your hands," Schultze said. "I wouldn't worry too much if they were S. niger or S. piraya, but those nattereri ge t up to a foot long and have teeth like a mouth full of razor blades. You couldn't pay me enough money to go swimming with those rascals around. I've got a nub on my left hand that taught me that lesson."
Schultze said that if you are attacked, you should proceed slowly and as quietly as possible to the bank and simply walk out.
"Thrashing and screaming just gets them more excited," he said.
Until next time Kalaka reminds you to use the buddy system.
Otus the Head Cat's column of satire and impending natural disasters appears every Saturday.