Christopher Ward was bitten by his pet Gila monster for four minutes and suffered seizures before dying due to complications linked to the lizard’s venom, an autopsy has shown
A man who died after being bitten by his pet lizard suffered complications linked to the animal’s venom, an autopsy has shown.
Christopher Ward, 34, was placed on life support after being bitten by one of his pet Gila monsters on February 12 but died four days later. Now an autopsy into the Colorado man’s death has shown that he was subjected to a four-minute bite by his pet.
The autopsy, conducted by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office on February 18, said Christopher wavered in and out of consciousness for about two hours before seeking medical attention. At the hospital, he suffered multiple seizures and acute respiratory failure.
The autopsy showed that as well as the bite, heart and liver problems were significant contributing factors in his death. Christopher’s death marks the first to be caused by a Gila monster in almost a century.
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The 34-year-old, from Lakewood, Colorado, owned two pet Gila monsters whose bites can be painful but are not usually fatal to humans. According to experts, the last report of a human dying from a Gila monster bite was in 1930.
Eric Harper, a Criminal investigator with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), confirmed the agency was asked to remove the Gila monsters from the man’s home following the bite. He explained it is illegal to own Gila monsters in Colorado without a licence, adding that the man also owned tarantulas, which are legal to own.
Eric described the Lakewood incident as an anomaly. But he added that it shows “venomous reptiles are hazardous and should only be handled or possessed by people with proper training.”
Christopher’s girlfriend handed over the lizard, named Winston, as well as another named Potato to an animal control officer and other officers in the Denver suburb of Lakewood the day after the bite. She reportedly told police that on the day of the incident, she had heard something that “didn’t sound right” and entered a room to see Winston latched onto Christopher’s hand.
She told officers Christopher “immediately began exhibiting symptoms, vomiting several times and eventually passing out and ceasing to breathe,” according to the report. She also said she and Christopher bought Winston at a reptile exhibition in Denver in October and Potato from a breeder in Arizona in November.
According to National Geographic, the Gila monster is a carnivorous reptile that can grow up to 20 inches long and weigh up to four pounds, they can live up to 40 years in captivity.
The small striking lizard can be identified by its black scales and array of orange stripes and spots. They belong to one of the only families of venomous lizards on the planet. Their pebbly appearance is due to a “living coat of armour” called osteoderms, or tiny chips of bone embedded in the lizards’ skin to give them an element of protection against predators such as coyotes and hawks.
Unlike most species of venomous snakes and spiders, which inject their venom using long gans, Gila monster venom is wicked up from glands on the lower jaw by tiny grooves on each tooth. It means that to truly give a dose of venom to their victims, the Gila monster has to clamp down and chew.
Due to the reptiles spending around 90 per cent of their lives below ground, people rarely encounter Gila monsters in the wild, but bites still happen. Symptoms include swelling, intense burning pain, vomiting, dizziness, weakness, rapid heart rate and/or low blood pressure.
Dr Nick Brandehoff, a medical toxicologist and reptile expert with the Asclepius Snakebite Foundation, consulted on the Lakewood case, and said: “I think this case highlights that any venomous animals should be respected.” He added that the “vast majority of bites cause local swelling and bleeding”.
According to Dr Brandehoff, the bites can cause intense localised pain, which can lead to victims passing out, but deaths are incredibly rare. “The last case I have been able to find was 1930 and that was not even a medical journal case,” said Dr Brandehoff.
