7:45pm UK, Sunday June 27, 2004

Lucky visitors to a safari park have been given a glimpse of a rare albino deer.  

Lightning, as the fawn has been named, was born during a storm on Wednesday night at Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling to his mother - known as Thunder.

Lightning takes a break

Anyone lucky enough to glimpse the Nile lechwe antelope fawn will be witnessing a rare sight.  

There are no other albino antelope in Scotland and thought to be no others in Britain.  

Chief game warden David Booth said the protective mother will endeavour to hide the four-day-old fawn amid the herd of 11 antelopes roaming 30 acres in the park.  

He said: "They are really, really rare. I do not know of any others in Scotland and as far as I know there are no others in Britain.  

"The mother will hide it for a while - though you might get a glimpse."  

Lightning will grow to around 1.5m at the shoulder when he will have antlers of up to 1m long.  

Mr Booth added: "He should be quite an attraction when he grows up."  

White deer frequently appear in myth and folklore throughout the world.  

In Britain the white hart or stag was seen as a herald of otherworldly events and is seen on pub signs to this day.