Community outraged over albino deer killed in Fayette County

PERRYOPOLIS, PA (KDKA) — A community in Fayette County is mourning a beloved animal after it was shot and killed. 

According to Perryopolis native Jonathan Keffer, an albino deer that was roaming the community for eight years was shot. He claims people traveled from outside of the area to come to see the buck. 

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Now a Perryopolis man is facing state game violations after he allegedly killed the deer out of season. 

"We called him whitey or the albino," Keffer said. "Some people called him midnight 'cause he always showed up in the middle of the night to their feeders."

Regardless of what it was called, the white-tail albino deer that roamed around Jefferson Township was something else.

"It was a sight to behold," Keffer said. "Especially seeing him grow through the years. From the time he was a little basket rack to what he's been the last two years, which was a 14-point buck. And then the color, striking color. You could see him coming half a mile away."

But according to the game commission, the big buck was illegally shot somewhere along Cope Road by Laramie Noel Sisco. 

The wildlife management area where the animal roamed has a week break between archery and rifle deer season where there's no hunting, and that's when Sisco allegedly poached the deer and then tried to get it processed.

"There was kind of a spoken and unspoken agreements that the white deer was going to live out his life naturally," he added.

Sisco faces the possibility of fines and or the loss of his hunting license for good. Whatever the outcome, Keefer says it was unnecessary

"If someone would have taken him legally, I might of disagreed with it," Keefer said. "But I would have respected that decision."

Keffer did say there's word of another albino fawn roaming the area. He said he hopes the fawn gets to live a long life.

In:
• Hunting
• Fayette County