An elderly woman has die after being round by a rooster on her rural property in Australia in what experts are describing as a “ fatal rooster attack ” .
The 76 - year - old unnamed woman was reportedly collecting eggs when a domesticated rooster pecked her lower left-hand leg , causing “ significant hemorrhage with collapse and death ” . An postmortem of her left leg showed that it was covered in sticky dry out blood near two small bleeding lacerations , one of which was place immediately over a “ perforate large varix , ” write medical experts in the journalForensic Science , Medicine and Pathology .
Her death was therefore due to “ exsanguination ” – blood line being drained from the body – from “ bleeding varicose veins ” following the attack by her rooster .
The woman had a chronicle of treated aesculapian condition that may have affected her dead body ’s ability to regulate blood , including highblood atmospheric pressure , or hypertension , gamy cholesterin ( hyperlipidemia),type 2 diabetes , and enlarged or distorted veins known asvaricose vein . Though varicose nervure are usually benign and treatable , bleed from one that has become pierced is a aesculapian emergency brake , consort to theNational Heart , Lung , and Blood Institute . The condition come about when blood pressing build inside the veins and is clean common , affectingup to a quarter of all adult and as many as half of multitude age 50 and older . A number of case study in late years have exploreddeaths relate to varicose vein injury , including the unrelated deaths of55 - and66 - class - old hemorrhaging victimsand an 85 - twelvemonth - sure-enough man whodied in his bathtub .
Though fatal rooster attacks are incredibly rare , the authors say the case study correspond how even the diminished , most harmless - seeming animals can pose a terror to vulnerable people , including the elderly .
“ This case demonstrate that even relatively small domestic animals may be able-bodied to inflict lethal injuries in individuals if there are specific vascular vulnerability present,”writethe researcher .
Professor Roger Byard at the University of Adelaide in Australia assure IFLScience that such attack are completely preventable . “The type is significant as it draws attention to the exposure of elderly folk with varicose veins to minor injury , even from a rooster peck . Lethal cock attacks are very rare , but modest animals can have dying from harm , " he wrote in an email .
Treat all animals , even small 1 with respect , Byard advises .
" If you have varicose veins have them care for . If you have them untreated , be very careful of minor injuries , " he tot . " These deaths are preventable . If a vein is punctured apply pressure to the bleeding point , lie down , elevate the leg and get help . "
