A photographer was left heartbroken when she snapped pictures of an unfortunate deer covered in wart-like tumours around its face and neck.
Julie Carrow spotted the deer wandering past her when she was photographing senior portraits in Pipestone, southwestern Minnesota and posted the photos on Facebook last month.
She wrote: "This to me is just heartbreaking. Hoping this post will help this little man."
Pictures show the deer gazing at the camera but the growths appear to have covered and distorted both its eyes.
Other images show the lumps covering the deer's mouth, neck, chest and even its limbs.
Julie told City Pages : "He did not appear in any distress or malnourished, though I couldn't see his eyes."
She also notified the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to express her concerns about the deer's health.
Michelle Carstensen, from the DNR, told the paper the deer was suffering from a very bad case of fibromas - which is caused by a virus called papillomavirus, which is commonly known as HPV in humans.
The deer's vision and movement are likely to be affected by the bumps, and make it challenging to escape from a predator, she added.
"It's possible these will regress and he'll survive this. But it's also possible he becomes an easy prey item in the meantime," she explained.
Fibromatosis is not a cause of deer mortality and it's not known to infect humans, said the officials.
The Quality Deer Management Association, however, were more focused on hunters than the deer's health.
They say: "Its main significance lies in the consternation and concern experienced by the hunter who shoots a deer covered with ugly-looking lumps.
"Though they don't harm the meat, fibromas are repulsive to most persons and therefore render a fine trophy aesthetically undesirable."
