A fisherman in Wisconsin recently spotted a once-in-a-lifetime, all-white whitetail buck, and the animal truly looks like something out of a movie.
If you are ever out in nature and you see an albino deer – or an albino animal (complete loss of pigmentation) of any kind for that matter – consider yourself lucky. The odds of witness one of nature’s beautiful mistakes are slim to none. It’s one of those situations where if you see an albino animal, you go and buy a lottery ticket right after (though you kind of already won the lottery seeing the rare creature in person).
Leucistic mammals, which is a partial loss of pigmentation that usually results in white fur but regular eyes and hooves, are slightly more common, but it’s estimated that only one in every 30,000 deer that are born are albino. For clarification, those aren’t very good odds, and one could argue that the odds of catching a glimpse of one only get slimmer and slimmer the older the deer gets. Obviously, an all white deer is going to stick out like a sore thumb in the grassy habitats that they usually call home, which makes them more prone to being attacked.
Which is a real shame, because that just means that albino deer are fighting against the odds for their entire life. Before they are even born, a “perfect storm” of parents is needed to create the all white deer. Albinism is a recessive genetic trait (having flashbacks to biology class?), meaning that both parents of the albino offspring must carry the trait. In the rare case that the pair both have the non-dominant trait, they can then pass it down to their baby and cause it to have a lack in hair, tissue and skin coloration.
As I stated earlier, an albino deer’s color alone leave them with tough odds for survival, and that’s before you add in that deer that are born with albinism often also have physical deformities and abnormalities. Spine issues, as well as shortened legs and deformed hooves, attribute to the typical short lifespan of albino deer. The only real thing these white deer have going for them is Native Americans believed they were magical beasts and you’d bring yourself bad luck if you killed one.
Fortunately for this albino buck in Wisconsin, it’s actually protected by the state. According to Wisconsin Administrative Code (more specifically, NR 10.02), albino and “white deer” are protected wild animals, and they are not allowed to be taken, transported or possessed:
“The following wild animals are designated protected. No person may take, attempt to take, transport or possess any protected wild animal or its carcass at any time except as authorized by state or federal law.
Albino and white deer which have a coat of all white hair except that the hair on the tarsal glands, head or parts of the head may be a color other than white. For the purposes of this paragraph, white hair that has been discolored or stained by blood, soil or similar materials shall continue to be considered white hair.”
In other words, white deer, sometimes called “ghost deer” or “spirit deer” by certain groups, are completely safe from humans. Wild animals on the other hand? The state of Wisconsin can’t really step up in protect albino deer at all times, so they are on their own against predators like bears, wolves, coyotes, bobcats, and the very rare mountain lions (transient mountain lions are spotted a handful of times each year).
Like I said earlier, all white animals typically have a harder time surviving out in the wild, but it looks like this buck is healthy, happy and mature. It’s got a sizable, all-white rack sitting atop its head, and it’s truly a sight to see. Fortunately for us, a fisherman captured the whitetail on video and referred to as a “majestic unicorn.”
Can’t say I blame him for doing so:
“Well, I hope this was a good omen for fishing this week in the Wisconsin Northwoods. Can’t explain what it was like getting so close to such a majestic unicorn! Wild Wisconsin, albino whitetail.”
