A yearling whitetail buck with hairy eyeballs was a unique part of deer harvest reporting this year in Tennessee. The buck had a disk of skin and dense hair completely covering the cornea of each eye. Microscopic examination at Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study unit determined the hairy growths were “corneal dermoids.”
Source: National Deer Association, February 17, 2021. Link. Dermoids have been reported in numerous domestic animal species, most commonly the dog and cow, but have rarely been reported in deer,” said the SCWDS report.