An en-deer-ing creature

Residents on the north side of Sedalia may have spotted what many are calling an albino deer running around the area recently, but for Vanessa Williams, the small buck has become a regular visitor.

Williams lives on North Missouri Avenue and two to three times a day she is visited by the wandering buck.

“It’s been laying in my backyard,” Williams said.

Williams first noticed the rare deer Sunday. She began feeding it lettuce, tomatoes, grapes and apples.

“This is kind of crazy. I’ve never seen a deer come this close to somebody,” Williams said.

Williams said she has never seen any other deer in her yard before, even though she is surrounded by trees, let alone a white deer.

Lonnie Hansen, resource scientist for the Missouri Department of Conservation, said he has seen a picture of the animal and thinks that it is a fallow deer.

“It has all the characteristics of a fallow deer,” Hansen said.

The fallow buck may have escaped from a captive herd somewhere in the area.

“It’s a non-native species,” Hansen said.

He said based on the animal’s tame behavior and the size of its Adam’s apple, he thinks it is a fallow deer, which can be born white in color with dark eyes and not be labeled as albino.

“I don’t think it’s an albino whitetail,” Hansen said.

Fallow deer are traditionally a European and Asiatic species. Hansen said the deer do well in captivity and are easier to raise than Whitetail deer.

The deer, whatever type it is, is not afraid of human interaction. Williams said it waits outside her door for food in the evening and sometimes in the morning.

The deer’s right antler is not developed and there is an open wound on the deer’s ear. Hansen said the deer may have had an ear tag that has been ripped off.

Hansen said the department is working to track down a possible owner of the deer.