National Deer Association (NDA) shared a bizarre photo on Facebook of a weird-looking deer that had hair growing on its eyeballs.
“We’ve reported on a lot of weird deer over the years, and if we gathered all of them for a freak-show at a carnival, this one would be the main attraction,” NDA reported.
The deer was born with an extremely rare condition that causes hair to grow on the corneas of the animal’s eyes. This one, in particular, was found in Farragut, Tennessee circling around a street not really aware of where it was or what was around it.
Wildlife biologist Sterling Daniels of Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA) said it was, “circling, had visible bleeding, lacked awareness of the people around it, and had something on its eyes.”
TWRA discovered the deer after someone called in reporting its weird behavior in the streets. The agency monitors the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease and figured this deer was a victim of it. However, after rescuing the deer and running a few medical tests on it, the deer tested negative for the disease but positive for “corneal dermoids.”
NDA said, “Dermoids are a type of choristoma, which is defined as normal tissue in an abnormal location. Accordingly, dermoids are characterized by skinlike tissue occurring on the body in a location other than on the skin,” which likey explain’s the deer’s “embryonal developmental defect.”
Experts believe it has been like this since it was born and thanks to the rescuers, the deer is doing fine and is in a great place. It was a yearling when it was first rescued back in August 2020 and Tennessee wildlife officials have been taking care of it ever since.