The Almost White Deer

White deer Earl Plato
Questions! Questions! How many Fort Erieans have asked the question - What really happened to Fort Erie’s famous white deer? Now at the end of September , 2006 we learn the truth about its demise.
Writer’s note: I had seen photos of our deer over the past
years and had written about it for the Times. It was seen and photographed mainly in the Stonemill Road area east of Ridgeway. Various people on the Friendship Trail and on or near Dominion Road had sighted our white deer. White? Not quite. I received a call recently from, Les, an area man. He said, “Earl, do you want to know the true story about the white deer? I have it. We went to his house and there it was - beautifully mounted. Remember this is a Piebald deer not a true albino. Albinos have no pigment in their system hence they are all white including their hooves. The eyes are always pink. Our piebald has brown hooves, dark eyes - a brown patch between its antlers and a few brown spots on its sides. Our piebald buck is marvellously almost all white with a great rack. A wonderfully restored and mounted animal as the photo showed in the local paper.