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Real Jackalopes (Rabbits Infected With The Shope Papillomavirus)

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littleblackduck

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One of the few indigenous American mythological creatures (except for a few which came over with the Irish and other immigrants) has been spoiled by veterinary science.

The jackalope, half-rabbit, half-antelope (known in Europe for centuries despite there being no antelopes left, as will be seen from the photographs to which I link, below) is a natural phenomenon and has been photographed as well as examined by veterinaries and other "experts", some of whom were no doubt baffled, which is what experts do best.

Presumably wild examples of the jackalope have lead to folk stories of horned rabbits, at which naturalists have no doubt scoffed, at least for the last couple of positivistic centuries.

Here is the story which provided the name of the culprit responsible for these poor creatures:

Vet: Dead Rabbit Looks Like a Jackalope

The Associated Press
Monday, August 29, 2005; 5:49 PM

SAUK RAPIDS, Minn. -- Veterinarian Dennis Bechtold looked at the dead rabbit in disbelief. The rabbit's wart-like growths made it look like a mythical jackalope _ an animal that is half rabbit half antelope.

"It was amazing, really," Bechtold said. "Two of (the growths) were in the exact spot that made them look like a jackalope."

The dead rabbit was found in a woman's garden. It had Shope papilloma virus, a highly contagious disease that causes rabbits to grow things on their head and face that look like horns.

"I've never seen anything like it before," Police Chief Curt Gullickson said after the woman had called police about the rabbit.

Bechtold said the disease does not infect humans or domestic rabbits. He and Gullickson said there may be other rabbits in the area with the same problem.

"(People) may see them, and should not be scared of them," Gullickson said.

Rabbits with the disease can live with it, but usually die when the growths prevent them from eating.
Click to expand...

Link: washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01234.html
Link is dead. No archived version found.

I Googled and found some photographs, some of which will be disturbing to the sensitive, but then, if you don't feel a certain amount of disinterested, even callous scientific glee at the anomalies of this weird, wild and wonderful world (a glee which is not quite the same thing as schadenfreude, by the way), what are you doing on a Fortean site?

Warning: Disturbing photographs of "jackalopes"
.lafayette.edu/~hollidac/jacksforreal.html
Link is dead. The MIA webpage (and photos) can be accessed via the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/20050909144742/http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~hollidac/jacksforreal.html
 
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Those pictures make me want to die. And yet here I go to look again.
 
So, people really did see the things, but it was a nasty disease and not a new species. That seems to clear up one little cryptozoological mystery.
 
Fascinating stuff.

Am I cruel for laughing at local people nicknaming the rabbit "The Freak"?
 
disturbing is putting it mildly.... :shock:
I never ever gave jackalopes any real cryptozoological credence but the shot of the bunny in the grass...that is wild...what a gruesome disease :(
 
jackalopes

I have never seen rabbits with that skin disease.Poor bunnies,but I have seen stuffed and displayed jackalopes.They are obvious fakes with deer horns grafted on their heads.Travel thru Nevada and Arizona and you will see them in western stores and bars
 
Ive always found jackalopes to be really creepy... :shock:

like something out of a weird yet dark fantasy world filled with weird (and yet dark) creatures...

...but i dont think ive ever thought od them as crypto. I guess thats cos ive found them creepy and so ive never thought about them much... :err:
 
Here's a new victim of cottontail rabbit papillomavirus (CRPV) seen in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Rabbit&TentacleGrowths.jpg
‘Very unusual’: Rabbit with tentacle-like growths found in South Dakota

Neighbors in Sioux Falls have seen the poor rabbit: its head and face covered in growths that resembled tentacles. Resident Dennis Schorr walks his dog in the neighborhood and saw the animal on Thursday morning.

“I’ve never seen nothing like that before, I walk my dogs every day and I see lots of rabbits — but today was very unusual,” said Schorr. ...

It turns out the growths are caused by a form of the papillomavirus found only in cottontail rabbits.

Game Fish and Parks Biologist Josh Delger says the condition in rabbits is more common than you might think, though it rarely progresses to this stage. Delger says the most common way the infection is spread is through ticks and mosquitoes.

Cottontail rabbit papillomavirus (CRPV) is very similar to the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) ... Scientists write that CRPV causes “large warty structures” on soft skin areas. These growths are similar to genital warts seen in humans. ...
Click to expand...
FULL STORY: https://www.yourerie.com/news/natio...-tentacle-like-growths-found-in-south-dakota/
 
Are the growths soft or hard? I mean are they like a bundle of hair which will "give" while keeping shape, or are they hard like antlers.
 
Frideswide said:
Are the growths soft or hard? I mean are they like a bundle of hair which will "give" while keeping shape, or are they hard like antlers.
Click to expand...

The growths are described as being "wart-like", so I suppose they're rigid but still pliable to some extent.
 
Thank you greatly kind person.
 
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