Rare snow-white creature made ‘stunning debut’ at NC Zoo. Then came a second one
Snow blanketed the North Carolina Zoo with a rare coating of white — but it wasn’t the only unusual sighting.
In the snowfall, the zoo also spotted a white deer — the second one found roaming wild on its property this year, photos show.
“To see two white deer together in the same place is an exceedingly rare and special occurrence, a reminder of the beauty and wonder that nature holds,” zoo officials wrote Dec. 3 in a Facebook post.
Zoo workers caught a glimpse of the first white deer in the spring. The fawn with “snow-white” fur made his “stunning debut,” standing out from other animals in his herd that had brown fur, McClatchy News reported in November.
“Employees who were lucky enough to see the small white fawn were the envy of their co-workers,” the wildlife park wrote in a Nov. 12 blog post. “More and more staff confirmed seeing the little guy — everyone commenting how striking it is to see his big pink ears and brown eyes set against his pure white body.”
Workers at the zoo, located in Asheboro, long suspected there was a second white deer but hadn’t been able to take pictures of the two together. Recently, antlers started to emerge on the first deer, confirming he was a male.
Then in early December, “during the first snowfall of the season, a graceful white doe (female deer, without antlers) was photographed, as though the magic of winter itself called her forth,” the zoo wrote.
How rare are white deer?
The wildlife park doesn’t believe the deer have albinism. Instead, the two are suspected to have leucism, defined as a partial loss of pigmentation that can cause animals to have white patches of fur. The genetic condition may impact about 1 in 1,000 baby whitetail deer, according to the National Park Service and the zoo.
“I have seen the white deer myself, and it stopped me in my tracks,” Diane Villa, deputy director and chief communications officer at the zoo, told McClatchy News in an email. “He or she was looking right at me, and we just stayed still for several minutes. It’s a rare and mystical thing to see a white deer. It was truly enchanting!”
The two deer aren’t on exhibit but instead are among the wild animals that have roamed the zoo’s property for years. Visitors looking for the “elusive” creatures are asked to stay on trails and keep their distance.
“As fate would have it, author Nicholas Sparks recently released Counting Miracles, featuring a white deer right here on Purgatory Mountain, where the zoo is located,” the zoo wrote in a past Facebook post. “White deer also have great significance in the traditions and folklore of the Native American Indian tribes throughout the state of North Carolina.”
Asheboro is a roughly 70-mile drive west from Raleigh.
This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 10:05 AM with the headline "Rare snow-white creature made ‘stunning debut’ at NC Zoo. Then came a second one."
