White Deer

[ketchenany]

LONDON, Ont. - The legendary King Arthur led an epic, but unsuccessful, quest for the rare white stag.

 

In modern-day London, Bill Hopkins may have captured a similar, one-in-10,000 buck -- or, at least, the ghostly image of one.

 

"It was pretty surreal, almost right up there with seeing a unicorn," he says of his sighting late last week in west London.

 

He grabbed his camera and quickly fired off two shots through his window.

 

"It's a magical, mystical thing," said Hopkins.

 

In legend and myth, white deer have been symbols of good luck, the spirit world, unity and peace.

 

The deer's lack of colour is likely leucism, a reduced skin pigment that results from a recessive gene.

 

With a full rack of antlers, the deer looks to be an adult. It stayed within Hopkins' sight for about five minutes, briefly ventured near a busy road, retreated and then vanished into the woods.

 

Hopkins said the thought of it still sends shivers up his spine.

 

"We see this a lot in ducks but it's rare in deer," said Brian Salt of Salthaven Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Centre (salthaven.org) near Mt. Brydges.

 

He, like several others contacted by QMI Agency, had heard about all-white deer but have never seen one.

 

Another local wildlife expert says he hears of at least one pie-bald (patchy-white) deer in the region each year but the chances of an all-white deer are "probably one in 10,000."

 

"Because of their whiteness, they attract predators in the summer months" but can stay mostly hidden during the winter, the wildlife expert said.

 

Hopkins said its rarity emphasizes the need to preserve London's wooded habitats. "My hope is that this will bring some attention to the fact that we have some pretty unique and rare animals in the city and to be careful when we're driving in these areas."

 

A decade ago, a leucistic white fox in London's Springbank Park area turned heads for several weeks, before it became a casualty of traffic.

[jedimaster]

Very cool. I saw a piebald moose in algonquin a few years ago.

[dave524]

I am very skeptical on this, noting the antlers are not typical whitetailed deer's. Look more like a young elk's antlers, possibly a domestic farmed red deer/stag escapee, but I seriously doubt it's a wild native whitetail.

 

edit: or a shop job by some who doesn't know better

Edited October 21, 2010 by dave524

[jedimaster]

yah looks more like a white elk.

 

[Peps]

there is an albino white tail doe in brampton in the clareville conservation area. the first time i saw her i had to double take. turned the car around to make sure i was seeing the right thing....there she was sticking out like a sore thumb with the rest of the herd grazing in the field

[AverageJoeFishing]

Awesome man I really enjoy seeing our white beauties