By Taylor Boyd
A $4,000 reward is available for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the Dec. 6 deaths of an albino deer and her fawn.
The two animals were illegally shot and killed in Patrick County before daybreak, according to retired Patrick County Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court judge Junius Warren, who owns property on Clark House Farm Road.
He said he suspects that “someone drove by and apparently spotlighted the two deer. Once you shine a light in a deer’s eyes, they’re blinded, and they just freeze. That’s how he shot both of them.”
Warren said he believes the mother was shot first, and then the fawn. He noted the animals were left in the field with “pretty big sized holes in them.”
After they were killed, the hunter or hunters left, but later returned to take the tails – perhaps for trophies or as proof of the kill, Warren said.
He recalled the albino doe had been seen in the area for several years before showing up with her albino baby this year.
A reward of $4,000 is being offered for assistance in the arrest of whomever was responsible for the poaching of two albino deer near Clark House Farm Road in Patrick County.
“We’ve been watching this white mama deer for I guess three years and were always so happy to see her and just keep up with her. This year, it popped up that she had the young one, the fawn with her,” he said.
Warren and other residents in the area got a thrill out of watching both animals.
“It’s kind of unusual. I’ve seen a white one, but I’ve never seen a white one that had a fawn with her and both of them surviving,” he said.
He suspects the fawn was born earlier this year in spring, making it about six months old at the time of its death.
A friend of Warren’s, Joy Griffith, particularly enjoyed the albino pair after suffering the loss of her dog and her husband.
“About the time Sammy, her husband, died the white mama deer showed up in her back yard,” he said.
Warren said Griffith also took the poaching of the albino deer especially hard.
“I talked to her son, and she’s been crying for three days over the death of those deer,” he said.
Dannie Anderson, whose property the deer were killed on, said he was made aware of the situation after a neighbor called. Anderson spoke with Dale Owens, who is the game warden and currently is investigating the incident.
“He thought it was a shame, and said he was going to write a report on it and see what he could find out,” Anderson said.
Because the albino pair were hunted and killed on his property without permission, Anderson said he is considering pressing charges.
Owens did not return a call for comment.
While albino deer are not protected in Virginia, they are protected in several states including Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Tennessee.
However, “I’m an avid deer hunter and I do not agree with people doing that kind of thing,” Anderson said, and added local hunters also ignored the deer out of respect for neighbors who enjoyed watching them. He said a group of hunters rent his grandmother’s homeplace and use it as a hunting lodge to hunt the property right behind where the albino deer would often stay.
“We’ve all seen those deer while we’re sitting in the deer stand, but we wouldn’t shoot them. That’s because all the ladies in the neighborhood would say ‘oh, don’t shoot those pretty white deer,’ and just for the respect of that, we wouldn’t do it,” he said, adding other hunters in the area declined to shoot the deer for the same reason.
“Then to find them shot dead in my field laying there and nobody picked them up or anything, it just sort of blows my mind,” he said.
Since first reported, the story has received national attention in publications that include other Virginia newspapers and out of state publications like The Washington Post and those in North Carolina, according to Warren.
“Someone told me it was on the news in Texas,” he added.
The reward also has increased. It began at $250 when Warren and a few of his friends decided to offer a financial incentive for information about the incident.
“People have been calling me and it’s grown. Some guy called me from Richmond, and he saw it in the Richmond paper. He told me that nobody was going to talk on $250 or $500. He said he was pledging $3,000,” Warren said.
The reward currently sits at $4,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
“Someone’s going to talk for $4,000, I expect,” Warren said. “That’s a lot of money.”
Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to call Owens at (276) 692-6978.
