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The venom of the American rattlesnake monster is as poisonous as that of the western rattlesnake.
AP
A Colorado man died after being bitten by his pet monster lizard named Winston. The victim's girlfriend said she found the venomous desert reptile wrapped around his hand.
Christopher Ward, 34, was attacked by one of his two American dog bears and spent his days clinging to life on a ventilator. Lakewood Police Department spokesman John Romero announced this week that he died Friday at a hospital.
The Jefferson County coroner's office declined to say whether Ward died from exposure to lizard venom or whether tests showed he died from an unrelated medical problem.
Ward's girlfriend told police she “heard some different noises” and when she entered the room, she found Winston, an American dobby, with her boyfriend's hands pinned down.According to the animal control officer's report.
She told officers that Ward “immediately began to exhibit symptoms, vomited several times, and eventually passed out and stopped breathing,” according to the report.
Ward was rushed to the hospital and was placed on life support almost immediately. Five days later he was declared brain dead.
The victim's girlfriend then turned over the couple's two American dog bears, Winston and Potato, to Lakewood Animal Control. More than 20 spiders of various species were also removed from the couple's home.
She told officials that Winston was purchased at a reptile show in Denver in October, while Potato was purchased from a breeder in Arizona in November, according to the animal control officer's report.
When the woman was informed that Gila monsters were illegal in Lakewood, she asked officers to “get them out of her house as soon as possible,” the report said.
Colorado Department of Natural Resources officials sent the lizard to a reptile park near Rapid City, South Dakota. The couple's 26 spiders were taken to an animal shelter.
The American dogma is a large venomous reptile found throughout the southwestern United States and parts of Mexico. Their bites cause searing pain and can knock the victim unconscious, but are usually not fatal.
Their venom is as poisonous as that of the western rattlesnake, but there is no anti-venom for the Gila monster bite.
If tests show that Ward died from a bite from Winston the American lizard, it would be a rare death caused by a member of the lizard family.
with post wire
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