Nov 5, 2009 10:29 pm US/Eastern
White Squirrel Sighting Brings Out Md. Citizens
ELKTON, Md. (CBS) ―
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People are flocking to a town in Cecil County to catch a glimpse of a rare white squirrel that has been spotted in recent weeks.
AP
People are flocking to a town in Cecil County to catch a glimpse of a rare white squirrel that has been spotted in recent weeks.
CBS station WJZ-TV confirms these unusual critters have in fact arrived in Elkton, Maryland.
At the dilapidated Holly Hall Mansion in downtown Elkton, a white flash in the trees nearby caught many eyes.
It's a pure white squirrel, and on Thursday the fair and rare creature was consuming a nut when WJZ-TV cameras came by.
"There's two squirrels, and you get to see them everyday. We walk through, and they're playing together, jumping around playing in trees," said Michael Moore.
The Moore family walks past the mansion every day and says the squirrels have been around for weeks. Two policemen also say they see the two playing in front of the mansion all the time while on patrol.
"We see a lot of people taking pictures of them, video taping them. I've shown my son; he's seen them. Everybody around here's seen them cause they're out here every day," said Brandy Moore.
A former biology professor in North Carolina who specializes in white squirrels says they are relatively rare. They've been sighted in about a dozen towns east of the Mississippi.
There are two varieties of white squirrel, both related to the eastern grey squirrel. One is albino with pink eyes. The other is colorless with only pigmentation in its eyes which are dark.
It appears the type in Elkton has dark eyes and is not an albino which is extremely rare.
The Cecil Whig headline reads "Elkton Goes Nuts For Rare White Squirrel", and since the paper ran a series of photos this week, people have driven past, brought nuts and tried to see for themselves.
"I was glad to see it because I've never seen one before, ever. I always like squirrels, and a white one is different," said Brenda McCleary.
There are many grey squirrels in the wooded area next to big Elk Mall, and they seem unfazed and most friendly to their new companions.
In Brevard North Carolina, a few white squirrels have now become a thousand white squirrels and that town even holds a white squirrel festival.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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