Dead Jackalope

In Jackalope news: a Minnesota woman found in her yard a dead rabbit with horns growing out of its head, exactly like a jackalope. A veterinarian declared that it had been infected by Shope papilloma virus, "a highly contagious disease that causes rabbits to grow things on their head and face that look like horns." The veterinarian's explanation is, of course, part of the continuing conspiracy to conceal the existence of jackalopes from the general public.

Animals Folklore/Tall Tales

Posted on Wed Sep 07, 2005


Comments

That's actually a very sad story.
Posted by Dan  on  Wed Sep 07, 2005  at  11:00 PM
Damn. I saw this a week or two ago...knew I should've posted it!
Posted by Smerk  on  Wed Sep 07, 2005  at  11:23 PM
Hmph. I want a photo, dernit..

Still, this does raise an interesting question regarding the reality of the jackalope.

Can it be considered a mythical animal if there is a possibility, however remote, that this virus would cause antler-like growths? A rare case of a mythical animal becoming more real rather than less!
Posted by Bobcat  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  12:02 AM
Yeah... a photo sure would have been nice considering it is the year 2005!
Posted by Mark-N-Isa  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  12:20 AM
There's not that rabbit, but here's pics of live ones: http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~hollidac/jacksforreal.html
Posted by Winona  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  12:27 AM
Freaky pics Winona... you can kind of get the "feel" for this story just by reading... but seeing those pics really drove it home! Now I feel sorry for the poor things.

:down:
Posted by Mark-N-Isa  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  12:37 AM
Bechtold said the disease does not infect humans or domestic rabbits.

No domestic rabbits eh? I agree Alex, its a conspiracy. There's no reason why domestic rabbits should not get this (unless its because they do not often come in contact with wild rabbbits).

😉
Posted by LaMa  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  02:12 AM
That's so sad. I feel so sorry for the poor critters. :down:
I don't mind reading the article but when I see the photo's I get all depressed.
Posted by Nettie  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  04:37 AM
The domestic rabbit stocks have significant genetic difference from wild populations that they cannot readily interbreed, so it would make sense that they may not get the disease.

It might be useful if they did: Researchers into cancer went to a lot of trouble to breed starinas of mice with antler in the 1990s to study the growth of tumours, as antlers are in many respects a form of tumour. Check Science Google for antlered mice, or more particularly the IIRC Mallagan Institute if you require proof.
Posted by DFStuckey  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  05:35 AM
A little research and viola! A picture worth a thousand hoaxes: http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~hollidac/jacksforreal.html
Posted by CCC  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  08:49 AM
wow CCC, those are some truly disturbing photo's, i think i am going to puke now
Posted by Chuck  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  09:20 AM
Oddly enough CCC, that's the exact same link that Winona provided earlier.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  09:30 AM
Why am I just hearing about this now......so jackolopes are real...
Posted by X  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  09:39 AM
Those pictures are fake. All they did was take an old field rabbit and photoshopped the fingernails of an old New Dehli swami on it. It's not even a good photoshop job. Don't fall for it. It's a hoax....
Posted by booch  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  10:42 AM
Yes, and we all know how reliable booch's judgement is, don't we?

Anyone who cares to can easily get information on this disease online.

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Viral_diseases/papilloma.pdf

Warning! Disgusting Pictures in this document.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  10:59 AM
This pdf has more reliable picture (from same site).

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Viral_diseases/fibroma.PDF
Posted by vorin  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  01:15 PM
Yes, we know all about how booch knows everthing. Impart some of thy wisdom unto us, booch! we don't belive a word you say...

Anyhoo, freaky pictures, Winona, but I couldn't reach the pages chary and vorin posted. Could anyone else?
Posted by Snowy  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  04:27 PM
Holy socks, Winona, what pictures!

So jackalopes are real, after all. Yikes!

Is the jury still out on jackdeer?
Posted by Big Gary in Dallas  on  Thu Sep 08, 2005  at  05:16 PM
I appreciate the compliment, snowie, but I don't know everthing, just more than you. Actually, most of the stuff I write is in fun- I think the humor's lost on your foreigners who post at an american site. We welcome you to our country's web pages, though, with no resentment at all. Welcome.
Posted by booch  on  Sat Sep 10, 2005  at  12:45 PM
I wish I hadn't looked at Winona's pics... :-(
Jackalope? More like a cross between a rabbit and something undescribable from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos... Ugh!
Posted by eovti  on  Mon Sep 12, 2005  at  07:19 AM
At the natural history museum on the campus of the University of Kansas at Lawrence, there are at least a dozen real examples (now long dead, of course) of "jackalopes," jackrabbits with a virus causing weird growths on their heads, such as that in the original story.
Posted by John Chappell  on  Tue Apr 04, 2006  at  07:00 AM
where are jackolopes found because my step dad
went on a hunting trip in east texas and said he seen some but i did not belive him
Posted by joseph rayon  on  Fri Apr 07, 2006  at  11:05 AM
I've seen them in my house after dark... they can pick locks and managed to get into my oreo cookie stash. They also ate all of my allergy medicaition, i think they were trying to kill me.
Posted by Jackalope hunter  on  Tue May 16, 2006  at  08:01 PM
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