STRANGE DEATHS
UNUSUAL WAYS OF SHUFFLING OFF THIS MORTAL COIL
A 76-year-old woman in South Australia was collecting eggs on her rural property when an aggressive cock began pecking at her lower left leg. This led to a significant haemorrhage, which caused her to collapse. An autopsy revealed two small lacerations on her leg, one of which was over a large varicose vein. She had evidently died from exsanguination due to bleeding from the varicose vein. She had several underlying health conditions, including high blood pressure and type two diabetes. Adelaide Advertiser, 2 Sept; livescience.com, 4 Sept 2019.
A 59-year-old Texan woman bled to death early one Sunday morning after she was attacked by wild hogs on exiting her car in the town of Anahuac, 40 miles (65km) east of Houston. Christine Rollins was visiting an 84-year-old woman whom she regularly cared for; when she didn’t enter at the usual time, the woman went outside and found her lying in the yard with different sized bites on her body, which suggested an attack by more than one animal. By the time police had arrived, Rollins had already bled to death. Around three million of the USA’s estimated six million wild hogs live in Texas. They can weigh more than 90kg (14st) and are very powerful. Deaths by wild hog are extremely rare; a 2013 study found only four fatalities in the history of the USA, three of which had taken place during hog hunts. news.sky.com, 27 Nov 2019.
A 63-year-old man in Germany died from a rare infection after being licked by his dog. Doctors subsequently warned pet owners to seek urgent medical advice if they experienced unusual flu-like symptoms. The previously healthy man died from multi-organ failure a few weeks after he was licked (but not bitten or otherwise injured). He had been infected with
capnocytophaga canimorsus, a bacterium found in the saliva and gums of dogs and cats, which can sometimes be transmitted to humans. If contracted, the infection is fatal in around 25 per cent of cases, said doctors from Bremen’s Rote Kreuz Hospital, although bite infections caused by this bacterium are rare. Severe or fatal infections usually only affect persons with suppressed immune systems or alcohol problems.
After three days of fever and respiratory difficulties, the unnamed man was admitted to hospital and treated with antibiotics, but his condition deteriorated whilst medical staff tried to work out the cause of his symptoms. He also had acute kidney injury and signs of liver dysfunction, and was placed in intensive care, but his condition worsened over the next 30 hours as he developed encephalopathy (brain disease) and paralytic ileus (intestinal muscle paralysis). On his fourth day in hospital, capnocytophaga canimorsus was diagnosed from blood tests and doctors increased the man’s antibiotic regime. But his brain began swelling, and abdomen scans indicated the shutting down of blood flow to some vital organs. The man’s family in consultation with his doctors then decided to cease treatment, and life support was turned off 16 days after treatment had begun. news.sky.com, 27 Nov 2019.
An elephant caused the death of a Buddhist monk during a religious procession in June 2017 at the coastal town of Kochchikade, Sri Lanka, 26 miles (42km) north of Colombo. One of three colourfully dressed elephants went on a rampage and attacked the 25-yearold monk, who died in hospital the next day. In July 2017 an elephant trained to give rides to tourists at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe’s main holiday resort, charged at and killed one of its handlers. Enock Kufandada, 50, had worked at the resort for over 10 years, whilst Mbanje, the 30-year-old bull elephant responsible for his death, had been giving rides to tourists earlier that day. Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority rangers subsequently shot and killed Mbanhje.
Glynnis Vaughan, chief inspector of the Zimbabwe National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ZNSPCA) said that African elephants could never be domesticated and described the practice as “vicious” and “cruel”. In September 2017 a man was crushed to death by an elephant in the Sundigarh district of Odisha, eastern India. Locals say they were already in the process of driving away the angered elephant when Ashok Bharti, 54, approached them and attempted to take a selfie of himself and the animal when it turned on him. The critically injured man was rescued but died in hospital. D.Telegraph, 13 June, 25 July; indiatimes.com, 3 Sept 2017.