Albino bobcat pictures are as rare as black bobcat pictures. They are so rare that one website became confused and presented a white Maine Coon as an albino bobcat! You can see it below. And I must say there is a certain similarity.
“WOW!” This was sent in by Doug Smith from West Virginia. He called up this Albino Bobcat. You don’t see that everyday.”
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- Albino bobcat hunted to death in America. The hunters were very impressed. Photo: Doug Smith from West Virginia
One of the photos – the best and most authentic one – shows a bow hunter proudly showing off his kill, an albino bobcat (or is it just pure white – there is a difference?). He showed the picture on a hunting website and all his colleagues were incredibly impressed, “what a special feeling it must have been” etc.. None of them considered the irony of killing a very rare creature making it even rarer. Hunting is a very selfish, self-centred pastime. It is a very sad photograph as far as I am concerned.
This is labelled an albino bobcat. I don’t think we can take it on trust that it is. It might be white and the genes creating white are different to those creating albino. Photo: Public domain.
Albino bobcats are incredibly rare it seems to me. The premier book1 on the wild cats says:
“Both melanistic and albino bobcats have been reported; a Texas zoo kept an albino bobcat for several years.”
The reference work for the report of an albino bobcat comes from a 1978 book: The bobcat of North America by SP Young and published by Lincoln University of Nebraska Press. 1978! I don’t know of any other reference to such a rare cat except Sarah Hartwell (messybeast.com) says: “There have been increasing numbers of reports of albino bobcats”. She does not elaborate on that statement.
Apparently the gene (identified as ‘C‘) is a recessive. I guess it had to be as this is a rare cat.
The picture below is of a white Maine Coon described as an albino bobcat.
White Maine Coon not an albino bobcat as described on one website. Picture: public domain.
Ref: 1 – Wild Cats of the World by Mel and Fiona Sunquist.
The “dominant white” gene found in domestic cats is not found in wildcat species. Therefore, if a wild cat, such as a bobcat, is white it is either albino (unpigmented skin and eyes) or leucistic (white fur, but normal pigment in eyes).
I can’t stand trophy hunting. I know a guy who does that. If you met him on the street, you would think he’s the greatest guy in the world. And he is kind, helpful, but likes to kill animals and hang them on the wall. 😢 Sick
Yes, it is bizarre to me that nice guys can also be so insensitive to killing animals for pleasure. I don’t get it.
Hunting isn’t even a sport, unless it’s sporting to kill pretty things for no reason other than they could… just like a serial killer in the city who kills pretty girls. It’s no different.
Sport hunters are the lowest of the low in my opinion. That rare white bobcat deserved to live. I agree Michael. That photograph is beyond sad. It reflects a mentality that I cannot comprehend.