Why I Started This Site

  My story begins in the summer of 1999, when I saw my first albino deer. It was near my home in southeastern KY. She was grazing in a field. At first glance I thought my neighbors had bought a new white horse, until I saw more whitetail deer all around her. She was very big compared to the other does with her, and she was solid white. Still I tried to figure out for sure if she was really a deer, so I watched for her almost every day. And when I saw her she always came with other deer. Eventually I got to see her pretty close up and I learned what times she would come into the field so I knew when to watch for her.  She amazed me. She was so beautiful. I watched her along with my children, family, and friends for 3 years. We had a few neighbors to ask if we had seen her. People came out our way just hoping to catch her by the road and see for themselves. Most people here would never hurt her, because they loved to see her as much as I did. She seemed almost magical. Around the fall of 2002 I began to hear that a few people were planning to kill her. I assumed there were laws against it, but after alot of trouble with the KY Fish and Wildlife Dept. and the state "report a poacher" number, I found out otherwise. I e-mailed nearly every states fish and wildlife departments and I found out from the 34 states who did respond that 29 DO NOT have laws and 5 DO Have laws.  Although a few of the states who don't have laws protecting white deer, do have laws protecting other white animals.  Then a few weeks ago I found out that an albino doe had been killed by a hunter, and we have not seen "ours" since.

  

          Some Information About Albino, White, And Piebald Deer

 In my quest for information about my albino deer I found out that there is a difference between an albino deer and a white deer. An albino deer is solid white, has pink eyes and nose, and greyish colored hooves. A white deer is solid white but has normal colored eyes, nose and hooves. A piebald deer has some amount of white, but not 100% white, and has normal pigment in their eyes, nose, and hooves.

  Albino deer births are estimated in statistical studies to be 1 in 30,000. Albino fawns rarely reach adulthood due to preditors. Besides the fact that they are solid white and cannot conceal themselves in their environment, they also usually have one or more of the following genetic problems: Poor eyesight, poor hearing, and deformities of their feet and legs. This is also the reason that adult albino deer have a life expectancy of only 3 to 4 years. They make an easy target for both hunters and preditors. In order for an albino fawn to be born, both parents must be albino, or if both parents carry the albino gene (they would be normally colored) they have a 1 in 4 chance of producing a fawn that is albino. According to a man I talked to with the Wildlife Department in NC, in his words, "Hunters very, very rarely see an albino deer."

 

                    E-mail: savealbinodeer@hotmail.com with comments.

 

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