{"id":3381,"date":"2026-06-27T16:04:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3381"},"modified":"2026-06-27T16:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:04:20","slug":"while-on-patrol-a-hillsborough-police-officer-found-a-1-in-30000-creature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3381","title":{"rendered":"While on patrol, a Hillsborough police officer found a 1-in-30,000 creature"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

While on patrol Monday, a Hillsborough police officer spotted a rare sight: an albino fawn munching on grass.<\/p>\n

Read more Why Kemba Walker is excited about Hornets\u2019 future, 2026 NBA Draft additions<\/a><\/p>\n

The North Carolina Zoo and Botanical Gardens estimates<\/u><\/a> that about one in 30,000 white-tailed fawns are albino.<\/p>\n

But for Hillsborough, a white deer spotting isn\u2019t uncommon, a town spokesperson told The News & Observer. Residents frequently post photos of white deer in local Facebook groups.<\/p>\n

Hence the Hillsborough Police Department\u2019s nonchalant caption opener when it posted a video<\/u><\/a> of the albino fawn on Facebook Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust some Hillsborough wildlife,\u201d the department wrote.<\/p>\n

Jan Hawkins, department head of Clinical Sciences at N.C. State\u2019s College of Veterinary Medicine, told The N&O that for deer, the albino trait is recessive. Fawn must receive the gene from both the mother and father to exhibit the trait.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a disadvantage to being an albino deer, as they stand out to predators and hunters, Hawkins said. Because albino deer lack camouflage and their eyes lack protective pigment \u2014 making them sensitive to light and struggle to detect movement \u2014 many of them die young, according to the N.C. Zoo.<\/p>\n

Read more Goose plays the first of three nights in Raleigh<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s more common for fawn to be piebald, born with white and brown spots, Hawkins said. But it\u2019s still rare: the N.C. Zoo estimates that 1 in 1,000 white-tailed deer exhibit leucism, or being piebald.<\/p>\n

In the Police Department\u2019s video, a brown buck a couple of dozen feet from the white deer could be seen cleaning the face of a fawn with a brown body and white spots.<\/p>\n

The albino deer\u2019s pink ears and pink nose are clearly visible in the Police Department\u2019s video. But Hawkins said he hasn\u2019t come across hard data to say whether the Hillsborough area has more albino deer than usual. It\u2019s possible that other white deer sightings are not albino, just piebald.<\/p>\n

Hawkins couldn\u2019t rule out the possibility of a higher albino or white deer incidence in Hillsborough. Rapid growth in the Triangle has segregated diverse populations of deer by \u201cconcrete jungles,\u201d thinning the genetic pool and making inbreeding more frequent, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome traits could show back up if a population was more narrow, and they don\u2019t have as many new animals coming in,\u201d Hawkins said. \u201cIt\u2019s always possible. It\u2019s all back to genetics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more AMC makes bold call that sends its stock crashing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An officer in Orange County filmed an albino fawn; NC Zoo estimates 1 in 30,000 white-tailed fawns are albino while piebald leucism occurs about 1 in 1,000 deer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nWhile on patrol, a Hillsborough police officer found a 1-in-30,000 creature - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=3381\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"While on patrol, a Hillsborough police officer found a 1-in-30,000 creature - 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