‘Never seen anything like this’ says deer biologist, after detecting a whitetail deer with thick hair growing on its eyeballs. A whitetail deer with thick hair growing on its eyeballs was found wandering in a Tennessee suburb.
As per the experts, hair growth on the eyeball is possibly the worst example of this condition in which animal’s unusual feature has been attributed to a very rare and bizarre condition called corneal dermoids, something that occurs when a tissue of a particular type grows in the wrong place.
According to National Deer Association, the one-year-foundling was found wandering a suburb in Knoxville in late August 2020. Its strange appearance alarmed the local residents. But when they took a closer look at the animal, they noticed it was bleeding and disoriented, according to National Deer Association.
But unlike other foundlings, he had no fear of human beings.
Unfortunately, the deer was killed by animal control officers, who suspected the deer may have been infected with some Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). After that, the deer’s head was sent to the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SCWDS) unit for further research.
Things never fall likely, as the death turned tragic when tests revealed the deer did not have CWD but was suffering from epizootic hemorrhagic disease, which led to its disorientation.
“Corneal dermoids, as in the case of this deer, often contain elements of normal skin, including hair follicles, sweat glands, collagen, and fat. The masses generally are benign (noninvasive) and are congenital, likely resulting from an embryonal developmental defect,” the official report by SCWDS read.
Chat Stwart, a deer biologist, wrote on Twitter that hunters have sent him pictures of animal abnormalities for the last 15 years. But he had never seen anything like the deer with hairy eyeballs.
“As a deer biologist for two states, I’ve had hunters send me pictures of abnormalities for nearly 15 years. I have NEVER seen anything like this!” he wrote.
