Albino Whitetail Deer Confirmed In Marshall County: TWRA

NASHVILLE, TN -- Tennessee wildlife officials confirmed a deer spotted recently near Chapel Hill in Marshall County, about 50 miles south of Nashville, is a true albino, an extremely rare mutation protected by state law.

Photos of the deer were sent in to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency over the weekend and after an examination, the TWRA said the pictures are of a true albino. Albinism is a complete or near-complete lack of melanin in an animal, resulting in white hair and pink or extremely pale blue eyes. The animals will also have a distinctive pink hue because blood flow under the skin can be seen through the hair. Albino deer will also have white hooves. Scientists estimate fewer than three of every 100,000 whitetail deer are true albinos.

It is illegal to hunt albino deer in Tennessee and doing so is a class B misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine.

But not all white deer are albinos. There is a variation known as a piebald deer, which have white fur, but the more common dark eyes, noses and hooves. Piebalds can be hunted.

Even rarer is the white deer of Seneca, N.Y. Confined and protected inside a former Army depot, a herd of deer with brilliant, completely white coats has survived for decades. The Seneca deer are not albinos, but instead are extreme piebalds.

Perhaps Tennessee's most famous white animals are the white squirrels of Kenton, a small town 100 miles northeast of Memphis. One of several communities claiming to be the true American home of the white squirrel, local legend says the originals were left by a traveling carnival in 1869 and provided the stock for the other cities with white squirrel populations.

Photo via TWRA