ORIGINAL: johnny_b_goode

it's perfectly ethical. WARNING: SCIENCE CONTENT
Genes control the expression of physical traits, such as albinism. Genes come in allele pairs, that is, you get one gene from your mom and one from your dad. Genes are always paired-two alleles (usually, but we won't get into that)

Dominant/Recessive: Dominant alleles take priority over recessive. Recessive traits can only be expressed when there are no dominant alleles for the gene. You can be homozygous (having either both dominant alleles or both recessive) or heterozygous (different alleles). Genes are represented by paired letters. Dominant alleles are represented by a capital letter, recessive by lowercase.

WW-Homozygous dominant, the dominant trait is expressed
Ww-Heterozygous, the dominant trait is expressed; the animal is a carrier for the recessive trait
ww-Homozygous recessive-the recessive trait is expressed


albinism is inherited, and the condition is caused by recessive genes. most deer have the dominant genes for this trait, which produces the normal color. albino deer have both recessive alleles for the trait, making them albino-they don't produce melanin, the pigment which brings color to the hair, skin, and eyes. deer can be carriers of albinism yet still look normal-they are heterozygous, one dominant allele (which codes for normal color) and one recessive allele.

Like this: "A" is the dominant allele which codes for the normal color, while "a" is the recessive allele and codes for albinism

AA-This deer is said to be homozygous dominant, and is normal color. This deer can only pass on the dominant gene for normal color ("A") to its offspring.

Aa-This deer is said to be heterozygous, and is normal color. This deer can pass either the normal color dominant gene ("A") or the albino recessive gene ("a") to its offspring.

aa-This deer is said be homozygous recessive, and is albino. This deer can only pass the recessive albino gene ("a") to its offspring.

It's not really a matter of genetic inferiority, there's nothing really wrong with albino deer-they just drew a bad hand from the gene pool. Albino deer, or any albino organism with predators, are much less likely to survive to adulthood, because they are easily picked off by predators. Most albino deer do not make it past their first winter. Killing albino deer won't eliminate the condition from the gene pool, however it may make it even more infrequent. So for a state to say it's illegal to kill them b/c they are albino and "rare" is pointless, because the trait can still exist through carriers, which look normal, but carry the albino gene.