Albino deer becoming a regular in Canon City

The white albino deer has become a common sight for some people living in Canon City, especially on the east side. The young deer takes fantastic photographs while grazing with its herd.

Ever since August of last year, the sightings seem to happen all the time for people in that neighborhood.

Dean Giem was working on Canon City’s east side Monday night when he suddenly came just feet away from the pure white animal.

“I was just on my way back to a job site and he was right on the corner of the street of Diamond and Cherry,” said Giem. “I stopped and took a picture. It was about the closest I had ever been to it.”

Canon City Daily Record writer Carie Canterbury says the east side is a hot spot for many deer because of the larger grazing fields. Many people come out to that neighborhood to take pictures of the albino deer.

“People would pull over and line up,” said Canterbury. “They are always very respectful, never tried to reach out and touch it.”

Canterbury says the deer has drawn in attention all over the country, and people in Canon City want to make sure the deer sticks around.

“People really take an interest in making sure it stays on one side of the city and not cross over the highway and potentially get hit,” said City Councilwoman Dolly Gonzales. Gonzales has started a survey on Facebook to try and figure out what to name Canon City’s white friend.

“There are some names out there that might be kind of cool to name him or her, might be our little city mascot,” said Gonzales.

Now the question is, how does Canon City keep their new mascot around?

The city has made an effort to make sure the white albino deer’s stay in Canon City is as comfortable as possible.

The city council instated a Deer Harvest program due to overpopulation problems, especially on the east side. However, in that ordinance, the albino deer is off limits to licensed hunters.