A man in Seville, Spain recently admitted himself to hospital after claiming to have been attacked by his pet Goldfish, “ Deep Cruz Campo “ as he is affectionately known ( pictured left).
He said that Deep Cruz Campo has been in the family for six months and that he is normally a placid but happy fellow who swims around the bowl, providing hours of entertainment for Manuel, his owner. Manuel was quoted as saying that his fish had recently become upset at the introduction of a pet cat into the family.
“ This caused the fish to become agitated and he started to act in a strange, even aggressive way when I fed him”, said Manuel, “ I found feeding him becoming more and more of a task and so I kept asking my wife to do it for me – she wasn’t aware that the Goldfish was becoming aggressive.”
The owner returned home from work one Friday afternoon and discovered the cat perched on top of the sideboard next to the fishbowl. The cat had its paw half way into the water and Cruz Campo was swimming towards the paw – “it appeared like a head on attack to me” Said Manuel, who works at an animal laboratory in an undisclosed location.
“ The cat was just sitting there waggling its paw in the water” he said, “ I love animals so I thought if the cat gets injured, the wife will kill me!”
Just at the moment the goldfish neared the cat, Manuel managed to snatch the cat away from the bowl. “ That was a lucky moment, I thought.” Said Manuel.
As Manuel was throwing the cat across the room to safety, Manuel flung his arm back towards the goldfish bowl. This must have attracted the attention of Cruz Campo, who then automatically changed direction in the water , being attracted by the splashing sound that some Goldfish experts say is similar to the sound of bread-crumbs hitting the water’s surface.
Manuel’s hand touched the water for a mere two seconds, enough for Cruz Campo to surface and dig its razor sharp teeth into Manuel’s forearm.
With pain searing through his arm and blood dripping onto the carpet, Manuel managed to get to his car and drive the 5 kilometers to the emergency services in Seville’s town center.
Nurses listened to his story but felt that the lacerations to his arm appeared to have been made by broken glass rather than teeth. Doctors said that Manuel had to be calmed down when he arrived at the hospital. When asked why, one doctor said,” Well, it appeared that he had been drinking and was upset that nobody believed his story.” “We nearly gave him a sedative but were advised not to because there was so much alcohol in his blood stream, nearly three times the normal amount.” There were signs of other substances present in his blood stream, but the doctor refused to comment until the police had finished there reports.
Deep Cruz Campo has been removed from the family home and is now working as 'Aqua-Decor' with several other goldfish in a local discotheque known as " Elefunk".
