A 34-year-old Colorado man died after being bitten by his pet Gila monster lizard final week, based on the Lakewood Police Division.
Christopher Ward was bitten by one in every of his two pet Gila monsters at his dwelling within the 100 block of Holland Road the evening of Feb. 12, a Lakewood animal management officer wrote in an incident report.
Ward’s girlfriend referred to as 911 after discovering Ward in a room with the venomous lizard latched onto his hand. The lady had been within the different room when she heard Ward say one thing and it “didn’t sound correct,” based on the report.
Ward rapidly began displaying signs and commenced vomiting, handed out and stopped respiration, the lady instructed Lakewood Animal Management.
Ward was taken to St. Anthony Hospital and placed on life assist and later died, based on Lakewood police.
The animal management officer knowledgeable Ward’s girlfriend it’s unlawful to personal Gila monsters in Lakewood and the lady requested officers take away the lizards from the house as quickly as potential.
The lizard who bit Ward was named Winston, and Ward bought him at a reptile exhibition in Denver in October when he was round 1 yr outdated, based on the report.
The second Gila monster, Potato, was purchased as a hatchling from a breeder in Arizona in November.
The Lakewood animal management officer, together with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Division of Pure Sources officers, eliminated the lizards from the house on Wednesday and deliberate to relocate them to Reptile Gardens in South Dakota.
Gila monsters are the most important lizards in the USA and might measure as much as 22 inches lengthy, based on the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
Their venom is as poisonous as that of a western diamondback rattlesnake and whereas they will maintain on for greater than 10 minutes, they produce a “comparatively small quantity of venom” once they chew, based on the group.
Whereas Gila monster bites usually are not normally lethal, there isn’t a antidote for his or her venom, based on the San Diego Zoo.
The Jefferson County Coroner’s Workplace couldn’t be reached for touch upon the case. Coroner’s officers declined to inform the Related Press if Ward died on account of the venom or one other medical situation.