Wildlife officials say a virus is causing rabbits in Colorado to sprout horn-like growths. What is rabbit papillomavirus and is it dangerous to pets?

As weird and concerning as they appear, the virus that causes the dark, wart-like horns or tentacles to grow on cottontail rabbits is relatively common and usually not anything to worry about.

Some cottontail rabbits in Fort Collins, Colorado, have been drawing attention because they have wart-like growths on their ...

Rabbits infected with the Shope papilloma virus have growth on their heads and faces resembling “horns and tentacles.” ...

As for the wild rabbits, they catch the virus from tick, flea or mosquito bites. Long, tentacle-like growths can appear ...

First it was rabbits with black tentacles. Now it is squirrels with grotesque tumours being dubbed “zombie squirrels” across ...