Hobby hunter shoots rare albino deer

Until recently, one could encounter a white deer at Häutligen in the canton of Bern.

Now the animal has been shot by a foreign hobby hunter. The game warden is furious. 

It attracted many curious hikers: for the past several months, a rare albino deer had been living between Konolfingen and Wichtrach. Now, however, the snow-white animal is dead, as the «Berner Zeitung» reports, citing the account of a reader. He came across a car with a Bosnia-Herzegovina licence plate while walking in the forest. «Then a dog came charging across the path, a shot rang out, and I couldn’t believe it», the man is quoted as saying. Just a few metres further on, the white deer lay on the ground — shot dead. Furious, he confronted the hobby hunter, the reader continues. The hunter explained to him in broken German that he had the necessary licence and was permitted to hunt in this forest. 

According to game warden Fritz Dürig, the canton of Bern generally recognizes the hunting examination from Bosnia-Herzegovina; with this, hunting licences or corresponding guest permits can be obtained in Switzerland. Even if an albino deer is legally considered a deer like any other, Dürig sharply condemns the shooting: «The man showed a complete lack of sensitivity and did the hunting world no favors», Dürig told the «Berner Zeitung». Already in hunting education, one learns that an albino animal is not to be shot — «out of respect for this quirk of nature». 

«White deer are a great rarity», says another game warden. This is best illustrated by the fact that in his area as a game warden, only a single full albino and three partial albino roe deer have appeared. And that over 33 years.

White roe deer need not fear the hobby hunters, by the way. Because shooting one brings a great deal of bad luck, says the game warden: "In hunting circles, it is said that you only have one year left to live if you shoot a white roe deer.»