Nichole Francis has loved animals all her life.
So when an albino deer showed up in her Greensboro neighborhood about a year ago, it was a thrill for her and her family.
They named the deer Yuki, (pronounced you-key) which is a Japanese word for snow. Francis says you can find Yuki hanging out around the homes and sometimes helping herself to some flowers.
Albino deer are extremely rare, in fact deeranddeerhunting.com cites a scientific study that found 1 in 36,000 deer are albino.
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"I was like 'oh my gosh, she's so pretty,'" she said when she first saw Yuki. "Hopefully she'll live for a very long time."
Francis says Yuki is one of about 11 deer that hang out in the neighborhood. Her boyfriend put out a salt lick for the deer and her family routinely sets deer food and corn out for them to eat.
"Everybody knows about her," Francis said. "We want to protect her because she's rare."
Wednesday, Yuki was seen among two other deer in a yard in the neighborhood around noon. Tyler Austin captured video and submitted it through the WFMY News 2 Facebook page. Austin said "it was the coolest thing he's seen for sure!"
"It's nice to have something nice and almost pure here. She just walks around, not a care in the world."
In March, a man captured video of an albino deer in Guilford County while riding his bike. Was that Yuki too? It's hard to tell.
