A lot of people are worried after seeing several wild rabbits with “tentacles” on their faces. But what is really going on?
As was reported earlier, people in Fort Collins, Colorado, are both shocked and worried about seeing wild rabbits with strange, horn-like growths on their faces.
Some people have called these “Frankenstein” rabbits because they have “tentacles” or “horns” sticking out of their lips. They contain a virus that looks scary but isn’t harmful to people or pets.
According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), the unusual growths are being caused by the Shope papilloma virus, also known as cottontail rabbit papilloma virus (CRPV), which only infects wild rabbits.
The growths are wart-like tumors that can look like black, spiky quills or black toothpicks protruding out from around the rabbits’ faces.
Credit: Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The virus can make the tumors cancerous, but it usually doesn’t directly harm the animals until the tumors block important functions like the mouth or eyes.
The virus is primarily carried by insects that bite, such as mosquitoes or ticks, but it can also be spread by infected rabbits, according to CPW.
Susan Mansfield, who lives in Fort Collins and has seen the same rabbit in her yard for two years in a row, said that it looked like black quills or black toothpicks protruding out all around its mouth. KBTX said that the growths got bigger each time.
Credit: Reddit/RecommendationPast54
I feared he would d!e in the cold, but he didn’t. He returned back for a second year, and it got bigger.
This may sound scary, but wildlife experts told the public that the virus is rather prevalent among wild rabbits and is more like harmless cancer cells.
CPW has also said that the virus is not zoonotic, which means it doesn’t transfer to people, dogs, or other animals. So there’s no need to worry about that.
But they do say that you shouldn’t get too close to or touch rabbits that are sick.
These bunnies may look a little creepy, but specialists say that the illness is not as de@dly as it seems at first.
Richard E. Shope found the virus in cottontail rabbits in the Midwest of the United States in 1933. It is now known as the Shope papilloma virus.
The virus is an oncogenic DNA virus, which means it can produce tumors, such as squamous cell carcinomas, which are a type of cancer.
When rabbits get sick, they can have a lot of different symptoms, like trouble seeing or eating as the tumors develop. However, in many circumstances, the tumors will not kill the rabbits.
Experts say that no one should try to handle or help an infected rabbit, whether it is a pet or a wild rabbit. For domestic rabbits, the virus can be cured by surgically removing the tumors.
This message is especially significant because people are still worried about diseases changing, like COVID-19. However, CPW said that CRPV is not expected to offer the same risk.
Letting nature take its course is the best thing to do, but this virus is still a fascinating and scary element of wildlife in Fort Collins, Colorado.