Albino raccoon

This friendly face is an albino raccoon caught Thursday in West Knox County, Knoxville. Randy Wolfe, owner of a business called Varmint Busters Wildlife Management Services (!!!), says this is the fourth one he's nabbed in more than two decades. Sadly, they killed the lovely critter. From Knoxville News Sentinel:

Wolfe said because of an overpopulation of raccoons and the presence of raccoon-strain rabies in East Tennessee, TWRA regulations forced him to euthanize the albino raccoon. Raccoons can carry diseases harmful to humans and other mammals, including rabies, parvo and raccoon roundworm.

Exceptions to this policy include raccoon mothers and the young, which may be sent to licensed wildlife rehabilitation centers, Wolfe said.

"Rare albino raccoon captured in West Knox"

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  Jeez. In SF, they’d put an exterminator in jail for killing a raccoon.

• [Anonymous]

  Not only do they carry rabies, but also a nasty roundworm that can infect humans and eat our brains. Plus they’re fucking destructive.

• [apoxia]

  Aw, he looks like a little fox. Poor little raccoon.

• [Zombie]

  Poor raccoon? I saw two raccoons rip apart a boyfriends cat years ago. They are not cute and cuddly.

  • [Felton]

    I’m not arguing that they’re not wild animals that don’t blend well with human habitats, and yes, cuddly might be a stretch, but I still think they’re cute. I think honey badgers are cute too, and I wouldn’t get anywhere near one of those things.

• [querent]

  He is quite cute, and obviously not happy about his situation. With good cause. Go with god, little guy. You are missed.

• [Anonymous]

  White squirrels about in Olney, IL. It’s even on TV. http://www.wgntv.com/entertainment/viral/wgntv-cruisin-illinois–white-squirrels-july14,0,1896307.story

• [Felton]

  Poor little albino raccoons are at an inherent disadvantage in the wild, because they don’t have the little masks with which to conceal their identities when they steal food.

  Seriously, though, I love raccoons. My ex-wife and I took a camping trip to St. George Island off the coast of Florida about a decade ago, where we were adopted by an adorable little raccoon that, as it turned out, was a connoisseur of fine cheddar cheese. At least, he was the prime suspect.

• [gadgetgirl]

  I had to move out of an apartment because raccoons had taken over the attic (directly above). They turned my balcony into their latrine, left mutilated squirrel corpses on my back doorstep, and caused so much damage to the roof that it cost me over $1,500 extra in heating bills. If I tried to leave the apartment by the back door at night (when they’re active), they would hiss and lunge at me. When they have sex, they scream so loud it’s hard to tell if they’re not trying to kill each other at the same time.

  A friend of mine who lives in the same neighbourhood was holding a birthday party in August and had the door open to let in some air. A raccoon walked into the room full of people and helped himself to the buffet table, then got snarly when he was chased out.

  If they’re in the wild, okay, live and let live. But in an urban centre? No way. I don’t care if they’re albino or not.

  • [bersl2]

    How urban is “urban” in your case? How long has it been “urban”? etc.

  • [Darren Garrison]

    “A raccoon walked into the room full of people and helped himself to the buffet table”

    Wow, I wonder why a raccoon would want a buffet table?

    • [dculberson]

      Perhaps he was planning a soiree of his own?

    • [Felton]

      He crashed the party, but then it got too wild and he had to leave.

• [Anonymous]

  Please forgive the pedantry, but those adorable blue eyes point to the raccoon being leucistic, not albino. Truly albino animals lack pigment even in their irises, leaving their eyes red. Think of a white tiger versus, say, a lab rat.

  Either way, it’s not typically a beneficial trait for animals who are active at night. Poor fella.

• [DanC]

  That is one mean looking little sucker.

• [Anonymous]

  I live in West Knoxville and I have also seen an albino raccoon in my backyard, about a year ago. I hope it wasn’t the same one!

• [Anonymous]

  Awww maybe I can fool the family into accepting this little fella as the family pet. My daughter has been dying for white husky. This little guy should do the trick.

• [MrsBug]

  Raccoons are also full of really sharp and nasty teeth. This little guy is cute and it’s too bad he had to be put down, but I’ll bet he was just as proficient at destroying bird feeders as the regular ones we have around our place.

• [Stefan Jones]

  Raccoons may look cute, but they are really nasty and destructive.

  I’d rather have coyotes in the neighborhood. They howl really pretty.

  • [Michaelchr]

    A have a pack of coyotes in my neighborhood that are fond of 4am sing-a-longs. You may have them if you’d like.

• [Anonymous]

  This is a sad cruelty. Rabies incidence in raccoons is miniscule. They are less likely to carry the disease than dogs. Rabid raccoons are seldom encountered by people, the disease makes them retiring and kills quickly. I have worked with raccoons as a wildlife rehabilitator and they are smart and personable and deserve better than being treated as vermin by lazy or ignorant or fearful humans.

• [Anonymous]

  I saw an albino raccoon last 4th of July. It was magical. (I think we should start having “albino raccoon” chasers!) I checked with my local wildlife biologist and he says that there are quite a few color mutations in the raccoon gene pool. In addition to albino there are some dilution genes that make them light beige.

  Contrary to what a previous poster said, some albino animals do have blue eyes. It depends on the shape of the eye itself, and how it refracts light that determines whether we interpret “lack of pigment” as red or blue. So tigers, domestic cats and apparently raccoons without pigment in their eyes look like they have blue eyes, while rabbits and rodents with no pigment in their eyes look like they have red eyes.

• [siradambeck]

  I like when people that catch things like this look the way you imagine them.