Wildlife officials find deer with hairy eyeballs - WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland

(NEXSTAR) – A disoriented whitetail deer reported in a Tennessee suburb was found to have both its eyeballs covered in hair, according to the National Deer Association.

The eye condition is called a corneal dermoid.

Nicole Nemeth and research technician Michelle Willis, with the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study unit at the University of Georgia, wrote in a recent report that the deer had skin where its cornea — the transparent part of the eye covering the iris and pupil — should have been.

“Corneal dermoids, as in the case of this deer, often contain elements of normal skin, including hair follicles, sweat glands, collagen, and fat,” they wrote.

Tests later revealed that the deer didn’t have CWD but instead had epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD), which can cause fever and disorientation.

Nemeth told the Quality Whitetails, the National Deer Association’s official magazine, that the deer appeared to have had the eye condition since birth!

The deer was nursed and protected for months by a doe that was possibly nearby when the buck contracted EHD, according to the association.

There have only ever been two reports of a deer with corneal dermoids.