Rare Animal Caught on Camera in Easttown

It's something you don't see everyday, and one Easttown Supervisor caught one on camera. A "white" deer is not unheard of but still pretty rare and it's even more rare to be able to get a photo of the fast moving and skittish animal.

Easttown Board of Supervisors member Fred Pioggia managed to snap a couple of photos of a rare Piebald, or Pinto, deer. Pioggia's wife Kathy sent these photos to TE Patch, along with a note explaining the history of this rare animal.

About 4 or 5 years ago we had a piebald doe on our property. at the time, we had no idea what she was. She was spotted and a little chubbier than the other more sleek does. 

A good friend of my mother's in Harrisburg had worked with the PA Game Commission his entire career and he explained the deer was a 'pinto' or 'piebald' deer. Earlier this spring we and our neighbors spotted a 'white' deer in the woods but when we got out our binocs, we realized the neck and head were brownish.

It was hanging out with 4 or 5 bucks (which I see as a group in the winter and spring) and therefore hard to see in its entirety.  Some thought it was an albino.  Now that the leaves are out, it is harder than ever to see and we had forgotten about it ( I will tell you it was a big topic of discussion at the polls at Devon Elementary School in May as many of our neighbors have seen it, too). 

But Fred spotted it on Sunday as the group of bucks walked through our front yard. Fred's picture is a little blurry  - you can imagine how difficult it is to take a picture of a deer.  We have watched their ears perk up when the camera's flash clicks on! AND WE ARE INSIDE! and they take off.

Their hearing is so amazing. So Fred took the pictures through the front screen door.

Editor's Note: Thanks to the Pioggia family for their quick-thinking photography and for sharing the photos with TE Patch.