January 11, 2011
Hunter kills Iowa-protected white deer
AURORA, Iowa (AP) — A white deer protected by state law was shot to death at a park in northeast Iowa.
Department of Natural Resources conservation officer Scott Kinseth told The Gazette of Cedar Rapids that the shooter hadn’t been charged yet. Kinseth would not release the shooter’s name.
The deer was slain Sunday in Jakway Park near Aurora
Jim Jansen is DNR wildlife supervisor in northeast Iowa. Jansen says state law protects white deer, but “nature would take them out” because the albinism that leaves a deer or other animal white makes it more visible to predators.
The Legislature made law in the early 1980s to protect white deer at the urging of people in St. Ansgar, who wanted to protect a white doe that lived near the northern Iowa town.