Rare Fawn Debuts Today

Visitors to Deer Tracks Junction in Cedar Springs will get a glimpse of a rare fawn Wednesday.

Dragon was born at the Junction less than two weeks ago with a white face, legs and underside.

Its mother is a special whitetail deer known as a Piebald, which carries a genetic defect causing it to have large areas of white in its coat.

Chad Stewart, a deer management specialist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, says it’s a condition that affects less than one-percent of the whitetail deer population and normally just involves a change in pigmentation, but could include other skeletal birth defects.

Dragon does not appear to exhibit any of those skeletal defects.

Stewart says the coloration is not albino, but based in the genetics of its fur.

Dragon is expected to join other deer in a large fenced-in pasture area at the Junction as early as July.