An autopsy report revealed that the venomous bite of a Gila monster contributed to the death of a Colorado man in February, in what an expert described as an “incredibly rare” death caused by one of the desert lizards.
The man, Christopher Ward, 34, died Feb. 16 “due to complications from Gila Monster poisoning,” said the Jefferson County Coroner’s autopsy report, which also cited heart and liver problems as contributing factors.
Mr Ward suffered a four-minute bite from the lizard on his right arm on the night of February 12, the report said. He drifted in and out of consciousness for about two hours before seeking medical attention, the report said.
Rescuers found Mr Ward on a bed, unresponsive and “in obvious severe distress”, the report said. He was taken to a hospital, where he was put on life support and “continued to decline throughout his hospitalization.”
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 another room when Mr. Ward was bitten and did not know what caused the lizard to strike. .
She said she heard him say something “and it “didn’t sound right,” according to an animal control officer’s report. When he entered the room, he found the lizard “latched” to Mr. Ward, the report said.
Kevin Torregrosa, the curator of herpetology at the Bronx Zoo, said it’s rare to be bitten by a Gila monster and “it’s also incredibly rare to die from one.”
“This is definitely the first one that I know firsthand in my career,” he said Saturday.
The Associated Press reported it was believed to be the first Gila monster bite death in the United States in nearly a century.
The Gila monster biting Mr Ward’s hand for four minutes was not surprising, “because that’s what they do”, Mr Torregrosa said.
“They bite and hold and chew, and that’s how they deliver their venom,” he said, adding that the venom is “very painful.” Lizards are not “active hunters for the most part”, and their venom is used primarily as a defense.
Unlike snakes, which inject their venom with fangs that look like hypodermic needles, Gila monsters have grooves, or channels, in their teeth, so when they bite, they hold, he said.
“The whole point is to get rid of whatever bothers them,” Mr. 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 the animal control officer’s report.
There was also a younger Gila monster in the house named Potato, who was purchased from a rancher in Arizona in November.
Authorities told Mr. Ward’s girlfriend that it was illegal to keep Gila monsters in Lakewood, and both lizards were taken to a reptile zoo in South Dakota. Officials also removed 26 spiders of different species and took them to an animal shelter.
Native to the southwestern United States and Mexico, Gila monsters are relatively small and slow lizards, Mr. Torregrosa said, which makes it easier to avoid being bitten by one.
“You have to mess with them to get a bite,” Mr. Torregrosa said. “No one is going to run out of the bushes and bite you.”
Lizards have short legs and a sturdy body, so they don’t run fast. Instead, they “meander and thrash around like a turtle would”, but Mr Torregrosa warned they can strike quickly.
Gila monsters have a striking color pattern that comes in various shades of orange, red, pink, and yellow that breaks up the outline of their body and helps them camouflage. The bright colors also serve as a warning, as brightly colored critters tend to be venomous or venomous, Mr Torregrosa said.
The Bronx Zoo has three Gila monsters on display in its reptile house, he said, and tools are being used to move them when it’s time to clean their space.
“We don’t go into the shelters with the animals in there,” he said. “A lot of times, that’s where incidents happen.”
He added that while he didn’t know what happened in this case, “a lot of times people think, especially with a Gila monster, that it’s a pretty slow and laid-back lizard, so they just don’t pay attention while they’re working.”
