Rare deer found in Massachusetts caught on camera

WESTFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – A rare type of deer was spotted in Westfield by a 22News viewer.

The photo captured was of a photo of a piebald deer in the area of Old Westfield Road in Westfield. These types of deer are born with a rare genetic condition that gives them small to large patches of white hair mixed in randomly with normal brown hair color, according to the National Deer Association .

Some piebald deer might have only a few outward signs of the condition, such as small patches of white hair, but some others might be mostly white. Both parents must carry the recessive gene for there to be a chance for their fawns to have it.

The defect affects less than 1 percent of the whitetail deer population and makes it difficult for them to blend into nature and hide from predators. Because many piebald fawns don’t survive to adulthood, and the trait is recessive, the condition is not likely to become common anywhere, but they are more common to come across than an albino or melanistic deer.

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WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.

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