Photo credit by Julie Carrow

A photographer in Minnesota captured photographs of a deer covered in large tumors called fibromas. Fibromatosis in deer is a common skin disease that affects mule deer, black-tailed deer and other cervid members in North America.

There is evidence to support that the skin tumors are caused by a pappilloma virus. The disease is not known to infect humans. Although they do not harm the meat, fibromas are repulsive to most people and therefore discourage them from consuming the deer.

Fibromatosis is not an important cause of deer mortality.