An autopsy report revealed that a venomous bite from a Gila monster contributed to the death of a Colorado man in February in what an authority described as an “extremely rare” fatality brought on by one of the desert lizards.
The man, Christopher Ward, 34, died Feb. 16 “from complications related to Gila monster poisoning,” said the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office autopsy report, which also cited heart and liver problems as contributing aspects to the death.
The report shows Ward suffered a four-minute lizard bite on his right hand on February 12. The report states that he lost consciousness for roughly two hours before in search of medical attention.
The report said paramedics found Mr Ward in bed, minimally responsive and “in an apparent serious state of distress”. He was taken to hospital, where he was placed on life support, and “his condition continued to deteriorate throughout his stay in the hospital.”
Mr. Ward’s girlfriend, who was present the night of the bite and who called 911, told authorities in Lakewood, a suburb of Denver, that she was in one other room when Mr. Ward was bitten and didn’t know what caused the lizard’s bite. strike.
She said she heard him say something “and ‘it didn’t sound right,'” according to an animal control officer’s report. The report states that when she entered the room, she found the lizard “attached” to Mr. Ward.
Kevin Torregrosa, curator of herpetology at the Bronx Zoo, said being bitten by a Gila monster is rare and that it’s “extremely rare to die from one.”
“This is certainly the first case in my career that I know about firsthand,” he said Saturday.
She reported to the Associated Press that it was believed to be the first death from a Gila monster bite in the United States in almost a century.
That the Gila monster bit into Mr. Ward’s hand for 4 minutes was not surprising “because that’s what they do,” Mr. Torregrosa said.
“They bite and hold and chew, and that’s how they release the venom,” he said, adding that the venom is “very painful.” Lizards aren’t “mostly active hunters” and their venom is principally used for defense.
Unlike snakes, which inject venom with fangs similar to hypodermic needles, Gila monsters have grooves, or channels, in their teeth so after they bite, they hold on, he said.
“The idea is to make everything that bothers them go away,” Torregrosa said.
Mr. Ward’s girlfriend told authorities that the lizard that bit Mr. Ward was named Winston and was purchased at a reptile show in Denver in October, according to an animal control officer’s report.
Also in the house was a younger Gila monster named Potato, who had been purchased from a breeder in Arizona in November.
The authorities told Mr. Ward’s girlfriend that it was illegal to keep Gila monsters in Lakewood, and each lizards were taken to a reptile zoo in South Dakota. Officials also removed 26 spiders of various species and transferred them to an animal shelter.
Native to the southwestern United States and Mexico, Gila monsters are relatively small and slow lizards, Torregrosa said, making it easy to avoid being bitten by one.
“You have to play with them to get bit,” Torregrosa said. “It won’t run out of the bushes and bite you.”
Lizards have short legs and a stocky body, so that they don’t run fast. Instead, they “wander and twist like a turtle,” but Mr. Torregrosa cautioned that they’ll strike quickly.
Gila monsters have an attention-grabbing color pattern of various shades of orange, red, pink, and yellow that breaks the contour of their body and helps them camouflage. The vivid colours also function a warning because brightly coloured animals are frequently poisonous or venomous, Torregrosa said.
He said the Bronx Zoo has three Gila monsters on display in its reptile house, and tools are used to move them when it is time to clear their space.
“We don’t reach into the enclosures where the animals are,” he said. “In many cases, that’s where incidents happen.”
He added that while he doesn’t know what happened in this case, “a lot of times people think, especially with the Gila monster, that they’re a pretty slow and laid-back lizard, so they just don’t pay attention while they’re working.”
