LYNDHURST, Ohio — A rare piebald deer was spotted in Lyndhurst Sunday afternoon.
Resident Nicole Eberle spotted the piebald deer among other deer in her backyard.
Jamey Emmert, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said the state agency gets reports from time to time about various species of wildlife with unusual fur or feather colors.
"I wouldn’t call piebald deer common by any means, but it’s not unusual for us to get a few calls every year from people inquiring about them because they saw one and was curious about it," said Emmert last year when she spoke to News 5 about piebald sighting in Pepper Pike.
An estimated 1-2% of deer have piebaldism—a rare genetic anomaly in whitetails that includes a range of potential deformities from coat coloration to skeletal alignment, according to QDMA, a nonprofit wildlife conservation organization.
Since piebaldism is a recessive trait, it’s believed that both parents must carry the recessive gene for there to be the chance for a piebald fawn. It’s possible for a piebald doe to reproduce and bear normal fawns.
RELATED: Rare piebald deer spotted in Pepper Pike
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