Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Animal Planet Videos: Fatal Attractions: Killed by a Pet Komodo Dragon

http://animal.discovery.com/videos/fatal-attractions-killed-by-a-pet-komodo-dragon.html

"One man's pet lizard killed him and then ate him. It's true. That fatal attraction is next on LARRY KING LIVE."

"UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Further investigation began to uncover evidence that Huff had been bitten just days before his death. In the past, he had been strong enough to fight off infections, but by the time he realized the symptoms were overtaking him, it could have been too late. The first bite might have been bad luck on Huff's part. But now he was defenseless. Ron Huff's death was gruesome. But to those who understood him, it seems to have come about because he was more concerned for the welfare of his pets than himself."

http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1003/05/lkl.01.html
(Its about 2/3 of the way to the bottom that it is discussed)

I watched that program. It was pretty slanted against anyone that owns reptiles. They even went so far as to suggest that there is something mentally wrong with a person that keeps monitors or big snakes. It's all fear and propaganda.
The Komodo example on Discovery is what it is. They are illegal to keep. What else do you want to do about it? It's only on to scare people.
The guy getting "killed" and eaten by his monitors was another extreme example. I doubt anyone here or much of anywhere else that keeps varanids successfully allows them to free roam on a permanent basis or even frequently. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that such an arrangement has countless disadvantages for both keeper and charges. The guy was an abberation among keepers. I liken it to calling all dog owners irresponsible and dangerous because a small, marginal group of them raise dogs for fighting.
It's annoying b/c there aren't that many of us percentage-wise and it's easy to tell the public that there is something wrong with us and get them to believe it. I guess that we're all just supposed to be out playing golf and working in the yard for hobbies. I wouldn't want anyone to know about my reptile-keeping mental disorder. The neighbors would flip if they saw my killer ackie and tegu just waiting to eat whatever and whoever happens to walk into the spare bedroom.

I now have a mental disorder for keeping reptiles(thats Great...),their should be an apology in session for that statement. my children like reptiles do they have a mental disorder too i am outraged of the stupidity of words used for ones criticism towards another's liken of
something. they are no different of a pet to a person as to owning a dogs, cats,and birds to another.

I remember stories about this at the time. I'm sure it was ornate or Nile monitors, not Komodo dragons. The story then was that the gentleman had died of natural causes and was partially eaten by his pets before his body was found. Is this an extreme case of hype or did new evidence emerge?
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Mampam Conservation

I am pretty sure its animal planet making up whatever they feel like to make what they see as good television, and it has nothing to do with the facts.

The Animal Rights crowd wants our hobby stamped out, and they seem to have a lot of pull with the folks at Animal Planet judging from the programming they have been airing.

What better way to discredit us then making all reptile keepers/owners out to be "mentally ill" with programs like this, and "professionals" like Dave Salmoni telling people that there is no place in our homes for the animals we successfully keep and breed..

You know, mampam, I was wondering the same thing. I'd heard of a man getting nibbled on by his monitors after dying awhile back. The ones on TV looked like niles and maybe some albigs. I hadn't heard that the man was bitten and infected by one of them until the show on Friday. It did seem odd that the media would leave such a juicy detail out of the original story, and I KNOW I would have remembered it being reported that way. The guest herpetologist on the program was asked if these animals would cause infection if they bit their owners. He replied (and this isn't a direct quote)that any carnivorous animal or predator carries a risk of infection when it bites. That's funny. Aren't housecats and dogs still carnivorous and predatory? I've caught my dog trying to eat dead birds. Ive seen neighborhood cats eating baby rabbits and catching birds. I guess we'd better watch out for all those potentially deadly carnivores in households everywhere.

Any bite could potentially cause an infection. and actually if you get bit by a human badly they wont even stitch it up because the chance of infection is so high they have to leave it open to heal and treat. He definitely could have died from other things and just because he was bitten they assumed thats what it was. And the Larry king thing was retarded. I mean I can see how at first glance reptile keepers can seem like animal hoarders, but after a little research it should be obvious most of us arent. I dont think they realize how many of us "crazy people" there are.

With Fred Kaufman as the series Executive Producer of these shows, nothing good will come of any of it. He serves on the advisory board of The Humane Society of the United States Hollywood Division.

Do you think that a channel that puts the HSUS in charge of programming has anything but animosity for exotic keepers?

I know I am writing animal planet off as garbage. (I have for quite a long time now) and encouraging my friends and family to do the same.

I know that a lot of people are going to get upset at me for making the comments that I am about to make but I think that they need to be said here. First yes, I do keep two monitors at home. I did get a call form my mother with her scared that I have those animals when these programs aired recently. Yes I wish they went into more detail on Larry King about the situation with the monitor keeper who died, how it happened and what animal was involved(I didn’t here them say on the show. If they did please let me know what it was).

Now, for why I am actually writing. There is a difference between owning a house cat and owning a big cat. If you are unable to see that you are part of the problem that this show is talking about. I do work with two cougars at an AZA accredited institution, they are very dangerous and I would never suggest that it was possible for someone to care for one with out the proper training and in the proper conditions. There are enough zoo professionals that get killed working with these animals each year that it is unimaginable to me that someone of the street thinks they can just buy a dangerous animal and not have a problem raising it like a house cat or dog, they are not.

I do understand that a majority of the keepers here do great work for there animals, I have learned a lot from all of you and plan to continue to learn for you as experienced keepers, I’m not trying to attack any of you here. We as an industry must be able to see that there are some animals that are best left to zoo and out of the hands of the general public. I have read countless times people on this forum advising people not to get large monitors because of the difficulty they possess in caring for. How is it so easy to over look the safety of people when we are talking about them buying venomous snakes, Chimps, Lions, Tigers, Bears and yes large Monitors?

Sorry to be the work of the opposing side,

Tom

It is almost going on 20yrs now that I have worked with large varanids with the majority of that time spent working almost exclusively with V. salvator as far as varanids are concerned. They are my varanid of choice. Although in my opinion compared to Komodos they are not really all that large to most people V. salvators are huge. I have been bitten numerous times over the years although I obviously try to avoid it, on occasion it does happen and I have had a few serious bites. I do still have all my fingers though and considering I make a good amount of my income playing guitar I am quite fortunate in that respect.
That said I would much rather be bitten by a monitor than any mammal of any size from a woodchuck or raccoon on up. Either of those animals would do much worse damage to you if they got ahold of you and are often times smaller than a good sized salvator. I have done some critter removal work in the past so I am very much aware of how badly such animals can bite. I would therefore not go putting the larger available monitor species in the same class as great apes and large cats or bears, or even crocodillians for that matter.
As for the Zoo thing vs. the private sector I personally believe if you are properly caging and maintaining an animal that should be the only concern about private keepers. Given the track record public institutions have had in other matters such as educating our children building roads and defending our borders from foreign invasion as well as the many other things they have failed at dismally, I kind of have a hard time believing public zoos are necessarily better than private keepers at keeping any animals. I have always found it unfortunate that public zoos that are struggling for patrons have always turned away a potentially huge patronage of exotic keepers who would be willing to come to zoos for husbandry guidance but drive people away because of their stance on private ownership of exotics. I also find it a bit hypocritical considering zoos often acquire their animals from private breeders either directly or indirectly. A good example being a local zoo near me that had standings day geckos the last time I was there that were most likely offspring from my standingi colony. I have seen it countless other times as well.
Having had to work alongside extreme animal activists in the past I am well aware that they are targeting private keepers now but they have their eyes on zoos as well so instead of trying to separate yourselves from us perhaps you should look at what is really a common enemy instead.

I remember when this happened, the guy kept water monitors and had a hart attack. The monitors had nothing to eat so they ate him. I saw this on the news and read it in the paper and the cause of death was hart attack period...

That had 6 nile monitors that died of a heart atttack according to the ME, but he never got a chance to feed the lizards that week? 2 of the niles were 4-6ft, and these were the 2 that did the most consuming, but only after he had been dead for a few days.
There are many cases of cats doing this to dead owners after a day or 2, but we wont call one of the HSUS favorite deadly predators (house cat) a tiger, now will we?
Wow, you mean this TV show twisted the story around that bad to make a dramatic show out of it.
I have the pictures of the lizards after capture, with the biggest one being held by animal control in his apartment. Ill see if I can find them.

There was a guy from my town a few years back that had his penis eaten by his dog. He was paralyzed from the waste down and I believe the dog ate it while he was sleeping. poor guy. There are always extreme cases that can make anything look bad.

.....to forget to feed the dog. On a serious note a lot of species of monitors are basically the saurian version of vultures. I seem to remember the story and had heard it was niles. A little unusual for niles but certainly not out of the realm of possibility.
Salvators on the other hand are notorious for preying on the bodies of dead humans (remember Steve irwin on Jay leno..."they eat the dead, they eat the dead" certain cultures in Indonesia (I'm not sure which ones .) supposedly believe that if a monitor eats the body of their deceased loved-one that the person's spirit lives on in the lizard. Or so I once read.

Animal Planet had a real marathon of anti-reptile ownership tonight. They had "Fatal Attractions", and the the Invaders show about Florida. The propaganda is aimed at functional illiterates. Anyone who's watched politics or advertising can tell what's going on here. One of the lines, accompanied by ominous background music referred to nile monitors as "real life miniature versions of the mighty Godzilla". They also referred to tegus as a species of monitor. All monitor footage aside from Komodos was passed off as nile monitor imagery. Many of them were not. One "expert" woman even tried to make the brilliant observation that many of us as reptile keepers live in "squalid" conditions, as if it were a result of herping. I guess people in abject poverty can afford a ten thousand dollar ball python. And again, accusations of mental illness were rampant.

I really want to see the special they do on people fatially attracted to racing or skydiving Get my point. lolll

Actually,I do recall hearing about a man in a newyork apartment that had died of natural causes but was partially eaten by his pet nile monitor lizards that were roaming free in the apartment. Has anyone else heard anything about this? I am just curious if this was a true story or an urban myth. Obviously a nile would do this to a dead rotting human but,is it true? I am not saying the niles killed him but apparently had a snack.

Something I found on the subject.
"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUTOPSY REPORT: RONALD HUFF"

"The following information has been released by Doctor Richard T. Callery, Chief Medical Examiner, concerning the death of Ronald Huff:
The cause of death is undetermined after complete postmortem examination, histological studies and toxicological studies.
The manner is classified as undetermined."

"Under laws in place today, Ron Huff would have needed an acre of land to legally keep the menagerie of exotic lizards found on and alongside his partially consumed body."

"State officials said Thursday they believe Huff obtained his 1998 state permit to own and breed the Nile monitor lizards before the county's exotic animal code took effect. That made it legal for him to keep the pets in his one-room studio apartment in Newark."

"Current county law makes it illegal to keep any exotic animal on less than one acre in a residentially zoned area."

"And an important comment, "In Delaware, it's illegal to own exotic reptiles without being licensed."

I guess the laws didnt protect him, and neither did that exotic pet license, hmm...
That ferocious (less than 25lb, less than 6ft long) lizard he had.
Some more quotes from the experts who advised the reporters..

"Nile monitor lizards are indigenous to Africa, Australia and Malaysia. They feed on live prey, such as fish, snakes, birds, and can grow to 10 feet long."

Concerning how he applied for the exotics license, he applied while living in a house that fit the curent laws description, but moved later to an apartment, so I guess again the new laws would have done nothing to protect him or the lizards, or his 2 cats that he had.
The guy went from living at his grandmothers house which fit the laws description after obtaining the license, to a single room apartment.

"But at the time he made application, Huff was living at his grandmother's house in the 200 block of Madison Drive, a short distance away from the apartment complex on Thorn Lane."

I actually just watched this the other night and was forced to ask myself, "what the hell happened to shows like The Croc Hunter and The Jeff Corwin Experience?" seems like nowadays animal planet has gone so low that all their programming is based on "what sells", it really bums me out on how a once great network now only has shows such as "untamed and uncut", "fatal attractions", killed by this animal, killed by that animal, when did they become so focused on showing violent animals?