JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – Have you ever seen a white and brown spotted deer? No, we’re not talking about a fawn.
Rebecca Andes of Johnson City sent News Channel 11 this picture of a white buck with brown splotches on it. She spotted it Friday morning in her backyard.
You may have seen deer like this before. Bays Mountain Park has at least one.
What you may not know is the deer has piebaldism. According to Matt Cameron with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, it is a genetic anomaly.
Not only does it have a strange coat coloration but it may have deformities in its skeletal structure.
“There are reports that less than 2 percent of deer are piebalds, which is rare but more common than completely albino whitetails, which are solid white with pink eyes,” Cameron told News Channel 11.
Cameron also said both parents must carry the recessive gene necessary to produce a piebald fawn. However, a piebald doe could bear normal fawns.
By the way, it is legal to harvest piebald whitetail deer in Tennessee during hunting season. However, it’s illegal to kill albino whitetails.