Overview
- Graphic photos of gray squirrels with oozing, wart-like growths circulated on social media in late June 2026, drawing reports from Florida, North Carolina, Michigan and Ohio.
- Wildlife experts identify the condition as squirrel fibromatosis caused by leporipoxvirus, a rodent virus that produces variable skin tumors.
- The virus spreads by direct contact and by contaminated saliva or lesion material on shared food, with bird feeders flagged as high-risk sites that concentrate animals and speed transmission.
- State wildlife officials advise people not to handle affected animals, say the infection rarely harms humans or household pets, and note most lesions resolve on their own over weeks.
- Sightings tend to rise in summer when squirrels gather food and follow past regional surges such as August 2025, so wildlife agencies recommend removing or managing feeders to reduce further spread.