Wild rabbits in Fort Collins, Colorado, are showing up with scary black growths on their faces. People say the animals look like they have horns or tentacles sticking out.
Experts explained that this is the cottontail papilloma virus, called CRPV, and not some new monster. The virus has been known for years, but when you see it, it looks unreal.
ScienceDirect says it causes wartlike spots on rabbits, red or dark in color, and while it cannot spread to humans, it can pass between rabbits through mosquitoes and ticks.
It starts with red bumps that change into warts. Over time those warts can get bigger, and some even turn into cancer. The most shocking part is when black spikes grow around the mouth, eyes, and cheeks and make the animals look like something out of a nightmare.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife told the news that people should stay away from any sick-looking rabbits. The virus does not jump to people or other animals, but bugs that bite the rabbits can carry it to others. Pet owners were warned to keep rabbits away from mosquitoes and ticks.
A local woman, Susan Mansfield, saw one herself and said: “It looked like black quills or black toothpicks sticking out all around its mouth. I thought he’d die off during the winter, but he didn’t. He came back a second year – and it grew.” Her words show how lasting and strange this virus can be.
Vets can sometimes remove the growths from pet rabbits with surgery. Out in the wild it usually ends badly because once the horns grow over the eyes and mouth, the rabbits cannot eat or even see, and many starve to death.
