ALMA (WWJ) - A Mid-Michigan woman was in for a rare sight after she spotted an unusual looking deer roaming near medical offices in Alma.
As reported by the Morning Sun, a photo of the unique animal was captured by Brandi Lowery as it wandered just north of Warwick Drive, across the street from the MyMichigan Medical Center emergency room.
The deer, it turns out, is piebald.
In an email to the Morning Sun, Lowery said she stopping at her boyfriend's worksite in the area when she saw the deer in the woods.
“I have seen a lot of deer go in there but (last week) I rolled in the parking lot to bring my boyfriend some food and there sat this little beauty," she wrote. "It’s not very often you see something like this.”
While some recent reports have estimated numbers as high as 2% and as low as 1/30,000, an expert with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources tells us it's very difficult to know just how many piebald deer there may be our state.
Speaking with WWJ on Friday, DNR deer biologist Chad Stewart said a piebald deer is a very rare sight, although because the coloring is a genetic trait you are likely to see a few more piebald deer in an area where you've already seen one.
In any case, Stewart said the 2% estimate is certainly too high when talking about Michigan's general deer population.
Rarer still are albino deer.
According to the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation, albinism is a rare genetic disorder that affects melanin production in plants and animals, affecting the pigment that determines the color of skin, hair, feathers, scales and eyes,
The DNR states an albino deer will have pink eyes, nose and a pinkish tint to their hooves. A piebald deer will have splotches of white fur throughout their coat, but will generally have a black nose, eyes and hooves.
While the unusual-colored deer are rare, they are not off-limits to hunters.
"It is legal to harvest albino, all-white or piebald deer in Michigan," the DNR said.
Up until 2008 albino and all-white deer were protected in the state, but the restriction was lifted for several reasons.
"The protection of albino/all-white deer was lifted for several reasons," the DNR said in a 2014 Facebook post clarifying the hunting protocol. "The rule put hunters in a difficult situation because it was legal to take a piebald deer, but it can be difficult to determine if a deer is all-white, albino or piebald from a distance; there is no biological reason to protect the genetic trait that causes a deer to be all-white or albino (in fact, the trait is certainly a disadvantage for avoiding predators); and the all-white (not truly albino) deer were escaped exotic animals with the potential to spread disease into the wild deer herd, something we would not want to promote by protecting these deer."
Back in September 2022, Michigan’s first-ever reported “Spirit Bear” or bear with white fur, was seen on trail cameras in the Upper Peninsula, although unconfirmed reports believed the bear was killed by wolves.
Genetically, the animal was said by researchers to be a "one-in-a-million" bear.