{"id":72451,"date":"2025-08-15T20:47:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T20:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/72451\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T20:47:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T20:47:12","slug":"why-rabbits-with-strange-looking-horns-are-hopping-around-colorado-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/72451\/","title":{"rendered":"Why rabbits with strange-looking \u2018horns\u2019 are hopping around Colorado &#8211; National"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tDescrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tIncrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>Rabbits have been spotted hopping around a <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/colorado\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Colorado<\/a> town with unusual horn-like growths poking out of their heads, causing alarm among some locals.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755073388_375_70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The bunnies seen in Fort Collins, a town about 105 kilometres north of Denver, are infected with the somewhat common Shope papillomavirus, which causes wart-like tumours that metastasize from their faces, appearing like horns.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRabbit with the papilloma virus (CRPV), or Shope papilloma virus. It infects rabbits, causing keratinous carcinomas, typically on or near the animal\u2019s head.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tEducation Images\/ Getty Images\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Photos shared online of the infected Cottontails have led to the species being given some unfortunate epithets, including \u201cFrankenstein bunnies,\u201d \u201cdemon rabbits\u201d and \u201czombie rabbits.\u201d However, their disease is well known to scientists and has been extensively studied.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Kara Van Hoose, a spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the agency had received reports of sightings in Fort Collins.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755073389_716_national.jpg\" alt=\"For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n<p>For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n<p>She assured that it is not out of the ordinary to see infected rabbits, especially during the summer months when fleas and ticks, which spread the virus, are most prevalent, adding that there is no risk to humans as the virus is only transmitted between rabbits.<\/p>\n<p>The growths often look like warts but can appear more like horns if they grow longer, Van Hoose explained, assuring that they are harmless to rabbits unless they grow on their eyes or mouths and interfere with eating.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore on World<br \/>\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Rabbits\u2019 immune systems can fight the virus and, once they do, the growths will disappear, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11336100\/air-canada-binding-arbitration-request-deadline-strike\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755290831_349_c681bf77e7f8d4e4a6c47cacc378a4d9fdb4770278f9fb1a9aa98be601b25982_bae1f3.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tAir Canada union rejects binding arbitration as almost 300 flights axed\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11334933\/alberta-man-border-turo-fentanyl-nightmare\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1755290832_578_fentany-rental-turo-on-iphone_1.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tAlberta man\u2019s quick trip across Canada-U.S. border becomes fentanyl nightmare\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The virus was named after Dr. Richard E. Shope, a professor at The Rockefeller University who discovered the disease in Cottontails in the 1930s.<\/p>\n<p>Infected rabbits\u2019 appearance is said to have influenced the centuries-old jackalope myth in North America, which told of a rabbit with antlers or horns, among other animal variations.<\/p>\n<p>The disease in rabbits also contributed to scientists\u2019 knowledge about the connection between viruses and cancer, such as the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 with files from The Associated Press<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Selkirk, Man. tackles adorable but concerning bunny problem'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SELKIRK_BUNNIES-PKG_OM012WR9_thumbnail_1280x720.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"   data-\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:01<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSelkirk, Man. tackles adorable but concerning bunny problem\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\tPrevious Video<\/p>\n<p>\t\tNext Video<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Descrease article font size Increase article font size Rabbits have been spotted hopping around a Colorado town with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,5731,84,22910,519,2845],"class_list":["post-72451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-colorado","tag-health","tag-rabbits","tag-trending","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}