COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A scurry of white squirrels was spotted frolicking by a mailbox recently in central Ohio.
An NBC4 viewer named Debbie said she has seen these squirrels in Pickerington’s Summerfield subdivision twice.
According to Debbie, the squirrels are usually out and about mid-morning and there are a total of four.
“I live in Eastchester Sub across the street and I used to see one all the time,” Debbie went on to explain. “They were just playing. Really neat.”
Since the original posting of this story, NBC4i.com visitors have been sending us more pictures of white squirrels from our area and around Ohio.
We received local submissions from Bexley, Clintonville, Gahanna, Grove City, North Linden, Pickerington, Reynoldsburg, Westerville, Whitehall and Worthington. Some pictures came from as far away as Maineville and Oberlin, Ohio.
Anne Crabtree from Gahanna also shared her experience with white squirrels.
“Grew up in Gahanna. There have been a family of albino squirrels behind Middle school West and Chapefield Elementary off Stygler Road since the ’60s my Mom said,” Crabtree wrote. “I lived across the street from the schools from 1985 to 2007and saw them all the time.”
Heading out for work yesterday morning and I always pause out front to look at my flowers, birds and the squirrels. I was so excited to see this little one stopping by for a morning visit. Whitehall 
Squirrel N. Parkview Bexley Ohio 
White squirrel in Gahanna 
We live in WindMiller Ponds in Pickerington and we also have white squirrels. 
White squirrel in Gantz Park 
White squirrel in Gantz Park 
Our neighborhood white squirrel, one of two at the very north end of North Linden. 
White Squirrel in Maineville neighborhood. 
One white squirrel who sits in my bird feeder and eats sunflower seeds. East Bexley. 
One white squirrel who sits in my bird feeder and eats sunflower seeds. East Bexley. 
One white squirrel who sits in my bird feeder and eats sunflower seeds. East Bexley. 
One white squirrel who sits in my bird feeder and eats sunflower seeds. East Bexley. 
I spotted a white squirrel in my yard the first time in 2019 and have seen it sporadically every year since. 
White squirrel in our yard in Gahanna. 
We walk at Gantz Park in Grove City daily and almost always see this white squirrel. We heard his name is Mr Albino 
White squirrels in Westerville 
This one hangs out in my backyard. Grove City. 
This one hangs out in my backyard. Grove City. 
Hi there.. Saw your story on the white squirrels in central ohio.. Attached is a photo of a white squirrel my friend took at the central park in downtown Oberlin, Ohio 
We have a white squirrel in Clintonville—at the base of Amazon Place. My kids have decided she is a girl and have named her snowflake. We are told she is a long term resident of the area. I have attached a photo and a video. 
Spotted this guy off the boardwalk of the Buttonbrush Trail in Blacklick Woods Metro park last week. 
Reynoldsburg 
Reynoldsburg. 
Reynoldsburg 
Reynoldsburg 
White albino squirrel hanging out near Flint park in Worthington. 
Albino squirrel sighted April 28th in Oberlin. 
Always exciting to catch a glipmse of his one scurrying up and down our tree! (Suburb east of Cincinnati) 
Unnamed
According to the website “Untamed Science,” white squirrels are generally eastern gray squirrels that have white coats due to various types of genetic mutations.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources website lists the eastern gray squirrel as “common” in Ohio.
An article on Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources site points out that white squirrels are either known as albino or leucistic. Albino squirrels have no dark pigments on their bodies and distinctive red eyes. Squirrels with white coats and dark eyes are called leucistic.
The term leucistic is defined as, “a wide variety of conditions that result in the partial loss of pigmentation in an animal causing white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales, or cuticles, but not the eyes.”
The GDNR article also explains that, “Scientists believe that occasionally squirrels are born without the genes that enable their bodies to produce normal amounts of a chemical known as melanin. A squirrel’s hair color is determined by the amount of melanin in its hair cells. Those with little melanin are white.”
