Deer with skin condition concerns Colorado residents; this is what’s going on

COLARADO – In Colorado, multiple concerned people reported seeing a strange-looking deer.

The people asked Colorado Park and Wildlife officers about the animal’s well-being, but as it turns out, the animal has a livable skin condition called fibroma, a type of wart.

KPRC 2 learned from Colorado Parks and Wildlife that mule deer, white-tailed deer, and occasionally elk and moose are most susceptible to the virus.

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife recommends looking for the following signs of fibroma in deer: “nodular, usually dark-colored, hairless growths on the deer’s skin, that are usually abraded or ulcerated (i.e. bleeding surface), are typically located on the face, neck, and forelegs, but can occur anywhere, and that the growths can vary in size from pinpoint to several inches in diameter, and large growths may hang from their skin.”

According to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife, “Deer fibromas are caused by the deer papillomavirus. Like many other papillomaviruses, this virus causes wart-like growths (in deer these are usually classified as fibromas) on the skin. Deer fibromas can last for weeks to months and can get quite large, but most will eventually regress and heal completely without treatment. Once the growths are healed, the deer has lifelong resistant to future infections by this virus. Young deer are more commonly affected than older deer. The virus may be transmitted by many ways including direct skin-to-skin contact, scratching against the same scratching posts, or possibly even biting insects. In most cases, the growths do not interfere with normal deer behavior, although very large growths can interfere with limb movement and growths around the eyes can obstruct vision.”

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife stressed that “deer fibromas are not a concern for public health. The deer papillomavirus is only known to affect deer and closely-related species. The virus does not affect people, and meat from an affected deer is safe for consumption. There is also no known risk for transmission of the virus to cattle or other domestic livestock.”