Albino or piebald? White deer spotted in Jasper County

In Iowa, it’s illegal to hunt deer that are more than 50 percent white. Des Moines Register

A rare white doe spotted recently in Jasper County is bucking the odds. 

Derick Davis spotted the all-white deer May 18 in a rural area outside Mingo while riding an all-terrain vehicle. The doe is well-known to locals, Davis said. He believes he also saw the doe in October. 

Davis’ brother-in-law lives nearby and first saw the deer at least two years ago, Davis said.

“She runs with a bunch of other deer,” Davis said. “We see her all the time.” 

Recessive traits albinism and piebaldism can give deer all-white or partially-white coats, said Jim Coffey, an Iowa Department of Natural Resources forest wildlife biologist. A 1987 Iowa law prevents hunters from killing deer with coats more than 50% white, according to the Iowa DNR.

“Removing these deer from the gene pool with hunting would not be a benefit,” the news release said. “Just the same as protecting them is not a benefit.”

All-white deer rarely reach adulthood in rural areas, since they’re more visible to predators, Coffey said, and they often suffer from other genetic conditions and physical disabilities which also prevent them from thriving.

“They tend to live longer in protected areas,” Coffey said. “Those deer typically, if they were allowed to be wild, would not survive, and we’re giving them an unfair advantage.”

Derrick Davis spotted this white deer in Jasper County on Monday, May 18, 2020. Neighbors in the area say they’ve seen the doe, which is illegal to shoot because it’s more than 50% white, in the area for at least two years. (Photo: Derick Davis/Special to the Register)

Two all-white deer were spotted near North Liberty in late March, according to the Press-Citizen. 

All-white deer make up less than 1% of the deer population, or as few as one out of every 30,000 deer, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen. About 2% of deer are piebald, according to the Harrisburg Patriot-News. 

Nearly a dozen whitetail deer, plus two that appear to be rare albino or piebald deer, race along a lane northeast of North Liberty on Saturday afternoon, March 28. (Photo: Jan Lee/Special to the Press-Citizen)

Coffey could not tell if the deer in Davis’ video suffered from piebaldism, albinism or another genetic mutation. Piebald deer normally have white and brown coats and colored facial features. Albino deer tend to have red or pink eyes and pink noses because albinism, the rarer genetic condition, causes a complete lack of skin coloration. 

“This would not be what I normally would call piebaldism,” Coffey said. “However, it is still most likely a genetic color variation caused by a partial lack of melamine.”

Philip Joens covers breaking news for The Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184 at pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens. 

Your subscription makes our journalism possible. Subscribe today at DesMoinesRegister.com/Deal. 

Read or Share this story: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2020/05/26/iowa-deer-white-doe-spotted-in-jasper-county-albino-or-piebald-iowa-dnr-illegal-to-shoot-hunt/5259083002/