Christopher Ward, a 34-year-old Colorado man, died after being bitten by one of his two illegal pet Gila monsters, a venomous lizard native to the southwestern U.S. and Mexico. His death is believed to be the first in the U.S. from a Gila monster bite in almost a century.
According to the Lakewood Police Department, Ward was bitten by one of his lizards, named Winston, on February 12, 2024, at his home in Lakewood, a suburb of Denver. His girlfriend told the police that she heard strange noises coming from the next room and found Winston latched onto Ward’s hand. She said that Ward immediately started vomiting and passed out, and that he stopped breathing shortly after.
Ward was taken to St. Anthony Hospital, where he was put on life support and declared brain dead. He died a few days later. The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office said that his cause of death is pending, and that it is waiting for the results of toxicology tests and an autopsy.
The police were informed by Ward’s girlfriend that they had purchased Winston in October at a reptile expo in Denver and another, named Potato, from a breeder located in Arizona in November of that same year.
She said that she was unaware that Gila monsters were illegal to own in Colorado without a permit, and that she wanted them out of her house as soon as possible.
The police seized the two lizards and sent them to Reptile Gardens, a zoo in South Dakota. They also confiscated 26 spiders of different species from Ward’s home and took them to a local animal shelter.
Gila monsters are one of the few venomous lizards in the world, and their bites can cause severe pain, swelling, nausea, and loss of consciousness. However, they are not usually fatal to humans, as they inject only a small amount of venom and rarely bite unless provoked or threatened. The last known possible death from a Gila monster bite in the U.S. occurred in 1930.