In Lakewood, Colorado, a tragic incident led to the death of 34-year-old Christopher Ward after he was bitten by a Gila monster, a venomous lizard he had been keeping illegally as a pet.
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Ward owned two Gila monsters, Winston and Potato, and encountered the fatal incident in his home, located in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. According to an incident report by the Lakewood Police Department, Ward’s girlfriend called emergency services late on February 12, reporting that one of the lizards had bitten Ward on the hand. According to CNN, she found Ward distressed after entering the room where the reptiles were housed, with the lizard still attached to his hand. Ward exhibited immediate symptoms following the bite, including vomiting and loss of consciousness, eventually leading to cessation of breathing.
The report detailed that Ward’s girlfriend was unsure of the circumstances leading to the bite as she was in another part of the house. However, she recalled hearing Ward utter something unusual moments before the incident. Ward was rushed to a local hospital, where he was placed on life support. He was later declared brain dead and passed away on February 16, but Ward’s specific cause of death has yet to be disclosed.
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The legality of owning Gila monsters came into question with this incident. LPD Animal Control officer Leesha Crookston informed Ward’s girlfriend that keeping such reptiles is illegal in Lakewood. Subsequently, local authorities and Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials confiscated the lizards from Ward’s residence. Plans are underway to rehome the reptiles to an animal park in South Dakota. Additionally, twenty-six spiders of various species owned by Ward were removed from the premises.
Ward acquired the Gila monster that bit him, Winston, at a reptile exhibition in Denver last October. Winston was approximately a year old at the time of purchase. The second lizard, Potato, was obtained from a breeder in Arizona in November as a hatchling. Gila monsters, recognized as the largest lizards native to the United States, can grow up to 22 inches in length. They inhabit parts of Northern Mexico and the Southwestern United States, including Arizona, California, and New Mexico. Despite their venom being as potent as a western diamondback rattlesnake, Gila monsters inject a relatively small amount of venom during a bite. However, their bites are notably painful and can be life-threatening, with no antivenom currently available.