LAKE COUNTY -- Residents in a residential area of North Lakeport are concerned that a female deer that has been wandering in the neighborhood with a mass of tumors that is covering her body is in pain or very ill.
According to scientist Robert Keiffer of the University of California, Hopland Field Station, who studied a photo of the deer, the most likely cause of the tumors is a condition called papallomas or fibromas. Keiffer says the tumors are caused by a virus and in most cases the deer will develop an immunity to the virus and tumors will disappear. It is not known to be cancerous. Local residents called the game warden and were informed that for the time being they would leave the deer alone to see if it will recover.
According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources website, fibromas on deer are conspicuous as firm, nodular masses fastened only to the skin and varying in diameter from one-half an inch to more than five inches. All are fleshy. Some are covered with gray or dark skin which often is scratched and bleeding. Others have a black, dry, hard surface that may be fissured much like the head of a cauliflower. The larger ones tend to be pendulous because of their weight and stem-like attachment to the skin. How transmission of fibromas is accomplished in the wild is not known. Possibly, it is through contact of broken skin with infectious material, either from an infected deer or vegetation which has been rubbed or brushed by an infected deer. The fact the incidence is highest among bucks suggests that fighting is a means for the spread of the disease. Biting insects may possibly be responsible since many viruses are transmitted by insect vectors.
The scientists say that fibromas involve only the skin and has no direct effect on the general health of deer. There may be a secondary effect if the growths are particularly large and located where they cause physical difficulties as in seeing, eating and running. The disease is not known to infect humans or domestic animals such as dogs and cats.