Rabbits growing apparent tentacle-like growths out of their heads have been spotted in Colorado, NBC affiliate KUSA in Denver reported.
Residents like Susan Mansfield in Fort Collins, Colorado, started seeing the animals with black quills around their mouths in recent months.
“It looks like it was black quills or black toothpicks sticking out all around his or her mouth,” Mansfield told KUSA. “I thought he would die off during the winter, but he didn’t. He came back a second year, and it grew.”
Another resident described the rabbits as having “a scabbiesh-looking growth over their face.”
Colorado Parks & Wildlife did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TODAY.com, but told KUSA the cause of the growths is a virus that produces wart-like protrusions on the rabbit’s face or head.
The condition is similar to benign cancerous cells and does not have a cure, according to Colorado Parks & Wildlife. The growths do not hurt the rabbit, unless they grow on sensitive areas like their eyes or mouth, the agency added.
The virus is transmissible between rabbits, Colorado Parks & Wildlife said, and the condition is not known to be contagious to other animals or humans.
People should avoid approaching or touching the animals and to give them space, the agency said.
