Residents of Farragut, Tennessee were utterly baffled when they witnessed a white-tailed deer walk casually around their town. On closer inspection, they discovered that the animal had hair growing from its eyeballs.
While the confused townsfolk tried to catch the brave goat, they couldn’t help but notice that it had thick hair sticking out of the discs of flesh that had grown and covered over the goat’s eyeballs.
As it turns out, the condition is known as corneal dermoids and has only been documented in one other whitetail deer, also in Tennessee.
The condition essentially results from a benign tumor made up of tissues typically found elsewhere in the body, in this case skin complete with hair follicles that form over the cornea or a clear part of the eyeball.
According to Sterling Daniels, a wildlife biologist with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), the deer “Maybe he could tell day from dark, but I wouldn’t think he could see where he was going.”
‘I would compare it to covering your eyes with a washcloth. You could distinguish day and night, but that’s it. “
This particular goat, roaming the streets of Farragut, Tennessee in August 2020, was later diagnosed with epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) which can cause fever, inflammation of tissues and almost a complete loss of fear to humans, which may explain the bleeding . – trip to town.
Researchers suspect the hairy eye patch likely formed while the deer was still in the womb.
Worryingly, people can develop dermoids in their eyes, although the condition is extremely rare. It can cause blurred vision, but it does not result in extreme vision problems. The dermoids can also be surgically removed, although this does not improve the patient’s vision.
Also at rt.com
Wild deer attacks a selfie-seeking woman in London park after getting too close to take a perfect shot
Do you think your friends would be interested? Share this story!