The Big Fibroma

On July 7 I scored some photos of a whitetail with a pendulous tumor.

Looks gross, eh?

I emailed the pics to a biologist I know who heads-up the UW School of Wildlife Biology in Madison to see if she might shed some light on the subject. She shared them with the DNR’s Chief Veterinarian.  Here’s the response back:

 

Hi all-

 

While I can’t make a diagnosis from a picture, the image would be most consistent with a fibroma. They can vary greatly in size and shape. Usually they’ll eventually regress. Sometimes that can be irritated by injury or insect bites but again that is self-limiting most of the time. These fibromas are just a lesion of the skin and caused by a deer specific papillomavirus. 

 

More info can be found here: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/.../wildlif.../disease/Deerfibroma

 

Best

 

Lindsey

 

This showed-up on a trail camera last week.  Looks like it's improving all on its own...