Fuzzy white creature is spotted in dark by camera in NC woods. What the heck is it?

If the mystery animal wasn’t so “beautiful,” it would be kind of scary.

That’s the consensus on Facebook to a photo posted Nov. 22 by the state-backed camera trap program known as N.C. Candid Critters.

It “appears to be an albino raccoon,” the program wrote, with the key word being “appears.”

The fuzzy creature was seen in eastern North Carolina’s Nash County, an area best known as part of the Interstate 95 corridor.

As outrageous as it sounds, it more closely resembles a polar bear cub than a raccoon.

Other albino raccoons have turned up in North Carolina in the past few years. In February, photos were posted by WCTI of an albino raccoon caught Feb. 5 in Pamlico County. It was blond, not white, and didn’t resemble the suspected albino seen by N.C. Candid Critters.

However, photos posted elsewhere in the country show a definite resemblance, including a raccoon trapped in 2014 by the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife. It was mostly white and very fluffy, like the one in Nash County.

“Many wildlife biologists around the nation agree that albinism occurs in about one every of 750,000 raccoons. Also, very few survive in the wild as they cannot successfully hide from predators,” Indiana wildlife officials posted with their photo.

N.C. Candid Critters has a long history of photographing animals that are tough to identify, because the images are often captured in the dark as the creatures are running.

In a few cases, it’s believed the strange appearances are due to disease, resulting in comparisons to creatures of folklore, including the Chupacabra devil dog, the Charlotte Observer has reported in 2017.

This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 5:12 AM with the headline "Fuzzy white creature is spotted in dark by camera in NC woods. What the heck is it?."