FILE: Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif.

Oakland resident and nonprofit worker Nina Groleger was wandering around Lake Merritt recently when, all of a sudden, a flash of white caught her eye.

When she turned toward the Rotary Nature Center, a forlorn structure by the lagoon’s bird sanctuary, she saw it: a fuzzy – and odd looking – blonde raccoon. The animal was scaling the wall and gazing back at her, almost with an expression of bemusement. There were two of them, she said, and appeared to belong to a family.

Though they're uncommon, pale, leucistic raccoons keep appearing in Oakland's Lake Merritt neighborhood.........

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