Woman pecked to death by the cock

By AJ Willingham, CNN

(CNN) – A 76-year-old woman died recently in Australia after a couple of barbits from a rooster resulted in a catastrophic venous injury.

The alarming finding was published in the journal Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology in August.

According to pathologists from the University of Adelaide and the Forensic Institute of the Netherlands, a domestic rooster attacked the woman on her rural property, pecking her on the left leg and "Causing significant bleeding resulting in collapse and death".

"The death was therefore due to the exsanguination of varicose bleeding following a rooster attack," the researchers wrote. Exsanguination refers to blood drainage or significant blood loss.

This abnormal accident has less to do with killer poultry than with a tragic confluence of pre-existing conditions. Pathologists discovered that the woman had been treated for her high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and varicose veins.

"This case demonstrates that even relatively small pets may be able to inflict lethal wounds on individuals if specific vascular vulnerabilities are present," the paper concludes.

Many conditions could be considered "vascular vulnerabilities". Varicose veins, which ultimately contributed to the woman's death, are not usually associated with serious health risks. However, some recent research has explored a link between varicose veins and potentially dangerous vascular conditions, such as deep vein thrombosis.