A woman came across a severely diseased deer while out driving, which was so disfigured numerous people called for the animal to be put down.
The woman, called Diamarina, shared a clip to TikTok account @kking_mamaaon Sunday, showing the poor creature standing by the side of the road, as she admitted she’s never seen anything like it.
Diamarina, who came across the deer in Reading, Pennsylvania, approaches it from behind in the footage, and as she gets closer it becomes clear the deer isn’t your average buck. Its skin is covered in dark lumps, with its hind and forelegs bumpy, while its back is mottled with lumps.
But as she slowly gets nearer his head, the extent of the disease is clear as the deer turns to face her, revealing its features almost completely obscured by the fleshy lumps. Its eyes are no longer visible amid the growths, while its nose and mouth have also been engulfed by warts.
Diamarina’s clip was so visceral TikTok shared a warning on it, saying: “This video may contain disturbing content. Viewer discretion is advised.” The footage, which can be seen here, has been viewed more than 9 million times, as she captioned it: “I’ve never seen this before in my life. Wait until the end.”
Diamarina told Newsweek: “I never got any update other than that they were going to put the deer down. My first thoughts were: ‘wow I’ve never seen anything like that before in my life.’ My second thought was: ‘Oh my God, how can I help this deer?’ I was so afraid that he was going to get hit by a car.”
The clip caused such an outcry Diamarina shared a further four updates, as she revealed the deer’s probable fate.
Explaining how she found the buck, she said: “I was driving on a backroad and I came across this deer, I have never seen anything like this before in my life. So naturally I go up and try to inspect the situation. It became very clear to me that this deer was very sick.
“It also was clear to me that this deer was, I’m pretty sure, couldn’t see or hear because it was just kind of at a standstill. So my main concern is, I don’t want this deer to get hit by a car as it’s not running away. Typically you drive up to a deer and it runs away. This deer was just at a standstill.”
She claimed she called numerous animal shelters, before finally connecting with one, and after describing the animal’s condition the expert believed the deer had fibromas.
The disease is typically referred to as deer warts, and there is no treatment available, other than surgical removal.
The Pennsylvania Games Commission website states fibromas are the result of a papillomavirus infection, but confirmed it can’t be passed to humans.
The website said: “Fibromas are firm, fleshy, wart-like tumors or growths that only involve the skin. For the most part, the overall health of the animal is not affected, and behavior is normal unless the growths interfere with vision, eating, or movement.”
Diamarina gave her own explanation, summarizing: “So fibromas are a wart-like growth, they come from the papilloma virus, some of you may know what this is, basically this is not typically harmful to deer but in this case.
“After talking with this man he says it sounds like the fibromas are impeding this deer’s senses, as far as like seeing, hearing and even eating. Because if you couldn’t tell in the video the deer looks very malnourished. He told me there wasn’t anything that they could do specifically, but to give the game warden a call.
“So I went ahead and called the gaming commission, thankfully somebody else had already called and beat me to it and they were already on their way out. Of course I asked what they were going to do, and it didn’t sound promising. It sounded like they were going to put him down, which is the humane thing to do. But of course I was sad because I was hoping for a miracle but I guess you can’t save everything.”
The deer’s tragic condition prompted multiple people to call for it to be “put out of its misery” online.
Sarah L commented: “He must be in so much pain. Poor baby. I hope he’s out of his misery now.”
“I hope you called wildlife and told them about this deer so they can put it down poor thing,” Liz Waters wrote.
HeyOobie thought: “That deer needs to be put down. It’s suffering.”
Update 9/8/21, 8:21 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment, videos and pictures from Diamarina.
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