A female juvenile Komodo dragon bit the supervisor of the reptile department of the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium about 12:30 p.m. May 31, 2015 in Omaha, Nebraska.
The Komodo dragon attacked the female zookeeper when she reached for something during the routine care of the animals. The female zookeeper's wound kept bleeding, and the bite incident required the employee to be treated at the Nebraska Medical Center. After a couple of stitches to close up the wound on her injured hand and some antibiotics, she is now recovering at her house and is expected to be back on the job as early as Monday. The employee has more than ten years of experience as a reptile keeper at the zoo, according to the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium officials.
The zoo denied previous media reports that the employee was critically injured during the incident inside the cage. The zoo has confirmed also that the juvenile Komodo dragon would not be put down and will remain in her enclosure naturally.
"It is not really in their nature at all, for some reason this morning they were extra excited about something and decided to take it out on their keeper," said Stephanie Huettner, Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium's Assistant General Curator.
The zoo presently houses one adult Komodo dragon and two juveniles on display named Mel and Sally. The 2.5-year-old Komodo dragon involved on the incident weighs ten pounds and measures 3.5 feet long. As a comparison, adult Komodo dragons can grow 10 feet in length and weigh more than 300 pounds.
Biologists believed before that the bacteria in the mouth of the Komodo dragon infected its prey. Scientists had discovered there are about 50 different bacterial strains in its saliva, some of which are highly septic.
In 2009, the University of Melbourne researchers in Australia concluded that Komodo dragons create venom whose toxins cause their prey to go into shock aside from blood clotting reduction. This is why the zoo worker's Komodo dragon bite would continue bleeding. The venom of the Komodo dragon also decreases blood pressure, and when in combination with the loss of blood, it can severely weaken and could fatally injure the victim.
Fortunately, the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium female zookeeper's bite was not fatal. If treated immediately, the venom itself is not deadly enough but the harmful bacteria should be thoroughly cleaned off the wound as well.
