The fragile life of an albino doe that disowned the herd in Lugo

He starred in the most beautiful news of Holy Week in Galicia, but his good luck lasted a breath, so little that his rescuers did not have time to name him.

The two-month-old albino deer that appeared on Palm Sunday and was saved by the Community of San Roque, in Viveiro (Lugo), faded little by little over 12 days, between some flashes of vitality, and on the morning of Friday the 14th died.

On Thursday she no longer had the strength to get up.

The baby, with white hair, pink skin and blue eyes, arrived at the shelter battered, sick with scabies and internal parasitism.

She was so weak, her life was so fragile, that the first day the veterinarian who comes up from the town to take care of the animal park created by the forest community no longer gave great hope.

"We put all the means, we had the illusion, if the Xunta de Galicia let us, to stay with it," laments Carlos Méndez, the president of the association that groups the 250 owners of these 500 hectares of forest that they frame, along with the Cantabrian, the town in the north of Lugo.

The vet had put it so raw that, despite the desire for a good ending, they had decided not to spread the news of the extremely rare find until the little white herbivore had passed quarantine and treatment, isolated from other animals and protected from light. direct from the sun, which was imposed on him when he arrived at the shelter.

Roe deer calf rescued in Viveiro, in a photograph taken at Easter in the nature park of the Community of Montes San Roque.Carlos Méndez

"But it just so happened that a journalist came with her children to see the animals during the holidays, and then she saw the deer: it was impossible not to catch her attention," says the community member.

That singularity, that way of standing out and at the same time of becoming a target (and target) of all eyes, was probably, as the owners of the land and the technicians who came to visit her in her ephemeral life in the reserve suspect. , which caused her to be disowned by the pack.

Marginalized from the other roe deer, who spend their lives on the alert, surviving gunshots and natural predators ("there are wolves here," reports Méndez), the deer wandered around disoriented, and is known to have suffered at least a couple of traffic mishaps, “about to be hit” by a car and a mountain bike.

Although the genetic tests were not carried out, which —emphasizes the biotechnologist and geneticist Lluís Montoliu— “are necessary to confirm albinism”, Viveiro's calf surely “threw himself against the bike” due to the characteristic lack of vision of albinos Mendez points out.

In the shelter, in addition to noticing that he was looking for and "thanking" the company, "alone as he was in the world", they were also able to verify that he "almost could not see", especially "with the sun".

This "very severe visual deficiency" is the greatest difficulty faced by albino mammals, comments Montoliu, who has been studying albinism for 30 years at the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) in Madrid.

"The exception is squirrels, with a retina similar to that of birds, capable of focusing with the entire surface and not just with the center, as occurs with humans and other mammals."

In the case of albinos, all vision is "peripheral", without sharpness, without sharpness, without depth of field.

Albinism is a recessive genetic condition that is documented in most animal species and can be related to up to 22 genes, although the most frequent cause is the appearance of mutations in the tyrosinase gene,

essential for the synthesis of the pigment melanin.

Montoliu explains that this condition, considered a rare and disabling disease, above all because of its consequences for the sense of sight, occurs in one of every 10,000 or 20,000 people born, and depends on the place on the planet.

Globally, there is talk of one for every 17,000 humans, although "in continents like Africa it is more frequent, with one every 7,000," points out the CSIC researcher, "and in places like Tanzania, where they live in ghettos" and interact with each other. they can be born an albino for every 1,500 babies.

Albino deer from Viveiro, in a photo provided by the Community of Montes San Roque.

Rodents aside, which probably since ancient times, in Asian culture, were selected as pets and from there ended up jumping into laboratories, "we know little or nothing about the incidence in other mammals," acknowledges this world expert, author of articles and several books on albinism.

“These are very rare events”, and they are known when the news sometimes spreads that “someone appears somewhere”.

This is what happened with the corcina de Viveiro, where the community members had never come across another case, or with the white deer that in 2021 was recorded in Malaga, according to what was published at the time, in the vicinity of a luxury urbanization.

Since the Albin moose became a symbol for Norway in 2006 and was shot years later,

some hunting magazines that echo avoid pointing out the specific place in which the strange specimens of big game that are emerging are photographed, due to the temptation that they arouse in certain humans.

But, for having, it is known that there are lions, monkeys, dogs, cats, dolphins, whales, snakes, crocodiles, giraffes, peacocks, porcupines, bats, penguins, koalas, kangaroos, turtles and many more albino animals among mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles or fish.

Albinism or leucism

Sometimes what is judged to be albinism is actually leucism, another recessive genetic trait that manifests itself through white fur, scales, or plumage, but does not affect the eyes, which remain their normal color. , nor does it cause solar hypersensitivity.

It is believed that the same genes involved in human and rodent albinism are those that also explain that of other fauna.

And although, according to Lluís Montoliu, the most frequent in humans is "oculocutaneous type 1" albinism, there are animals and people who share other types.

Thus, says the expert, a well-known Spanish television presenter, who was analyzed by her team, has the same albinism that made the gorilla at the Barcelona Zoo, Snowflake, unique: type 4

.

After his death, the Corcina del Monte de San Roque was buried in the place "according to the indications given by the Xunta," says the president of the community members.

She did not live long enough to be studied, nor to be baptized by children, as is the custom with all the animals (deer, mouflons from Cameroon, rheas, ponies, donkeys and the mastiffs that watch over everyone) that live in the park of the nature.

That of San Roque is not just any commonwealth among the 2,800 that manage a quarter of the autonomous territory.

Here, the 250 owners "do not distribute profits", but instead invest "100% of the profits generated by the forest in the forest itself", with the animal park, the viewpoints, the picnic area, the hiking trails and the heritage historical.

Linked to the wildlife refuge there is also an adventure park with walkways, suspension bridges and zip lines through the trees.

The veterinarian goes up to attend to the animals when he touches some treatment, deworming, vaccinations or hooves have to be checked, and an employee attends them "all year round".

A few days ago, the caretaker was busy cutting fresh grass to feed the little albino doe.

He did not lose hope, but he was afraid of becoming attached because he knew the risks.

“At the moment, it is better not to name it.

When he gets out of danger, we will look for him with the children, ”he promised.

the caretaker was busy cutting fresh grass to feed the little albino doe.

He did not lose hope, but he was afraid of becoming attached because he knew the risks.

“At the moment, it is better not to name it.

When he gets out of danger, we will look for him with the children, ”he promised.

the caretaker was busy cutting fresh grass to feed the little albino doe.

He did not lose hope, but he was afraid of becoming attached because he knew the risks.

“At the moment, it is better not to name it.

When he gets out of danger, we will look for him with the children, ”he promised.

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