In the small town of Hollister Missouri a sleek white squirrel was caught on camera, initially the videographer was thinking it was a bunny.

This isn’t an albino squirrel, it’s “leucistic” – meaning it has a low melanin count and doesn’t have pink eyes. Both are rare, occurring about one in every ten thousand.  It’s also fair to point out that Marionville, Missouri isn’t too far away in Lawrence County, where a quite a few white squirrels roam, but those are albino squirrels. This one captured on camera is leucistic.

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Like many rare animals, white squirrels are connected to superstitious beliefs. White squirrels are considered mythological and a harbinger of change, but in a positive tone. Example: in Austin Texas it’s considered good luck to see a white squirrel before a test. There was also a white squirrel in North Carolina that was known to pick Super Bowl winners and the weather too.

White squirrels are also rarer than squirrels with white tails, you may have seen a few of those over the years. There was a white squirrel caught on camera in Illinois in 2023.

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Because the regulation of exotic animals is left to states, some organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States, advocate for federal, standardized legislation that would ban owning large cats, bears, primates, and large poisonous snakes as pets.

Read on to see which pets are banned in your home state, as well as across the nation.

Gallery Credit: Elena Kadvany

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Hitting an animal while driving is a frightening experience, and this list ranks all 50 states in order of the likelihood of such incidents happening, in addition to providing tips on how to avoid them.

Gallery Credit: Dom DiFurio & Jacob Osborn

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