LITTLE CURRENT—People have been catching glimpses of a piebald deer on the outskirts of Little Current for months now, but on Saturday morning Tammie Assinewai and Dakota Recollet of Sheguiandah First Nation were finally able to get a photo of the elusive deer while heading through Little Current.
“We were on our way to Espanola Saturday morning to run a work event,” Tammie Assinewai told The Expositor. “We were near the Shell station (Highway 6 Service Centre) when we saw one deer go by.”
Knowing that deer often travel in groups, she urged her co-worker to slow down. Sure enough the pair saw more deer and among them was a white deer; only the top of its head and its nose was brown. Piebald deer have brown eyes, noses and hooves unlike albino deer that have pink eyes, noses and hooves. Their rare colouration is due to a genetic defect that affects less than one percent of the population. This defect can also cause a bowing of the nose, short legs, scoliosis, a shorter lower jaw and internal organ deformities.
A quick-thinking Ms. Assinewai captured the rare deer on her cell phone camera and when she shared the photo to her Facebook over the weekend she was surprised by the immediate response. “It’s had over 900 shares,” she said.
Ms. Assinewai said she feels seeing the piebald deer is a good omen for herself and Ms. Recollet.
