Raccoons are regular guests at Hope For Wildlife, dozens come in each spring. However, their newest visitor stands out from the pack.

Chelsea Pullen is a veterinary technician at the wildlife rehabilitation centre.

She says their natural blonde guest has been at the centre for a week and has definitely kept people guessing.

“We actually have many people who say she looks like a fox, but nope, she's a blonde raccoon,” says Pullen.

Without the infamous black mask of her counterparts, the timid animal is barely recognizable as a raccoon.

“The discoloration basically is just a lack of pigment, a melanin in her skin and her hair follicles, but she actually has a brown nose, and brown eyes, so she's not a true albino,” says Pullen.

A blonde raccoon is truly a rare sight in Nova Scotia.

“We don't really have exact numbers, all I can say is that we've been here for 21 years and this is only the second one we've seen,” says Pullen. “She looks good, she looks great, she's healthy, so we're just going to wait a few more weeks until the weather gets warmer and then she'll be able to go right back out.”

The raccoon’s stay at Hope For Wildlife will be less than a month, to ensure she doesn’t get too accustomed to the human contact.

“She actually was brought to us by some concerned citizens that had some chickens at home,” says Pullen. “We hear this a lot. You know, we want to live close with nature and have our domestic pets, so they were concerned for their chickens so they brought her in so we can relocate her.”

Pullen notes that thicker wire or a well-built chicken coop is all you need to protect chickens from raccoons, but if you have concerns about wildlife on your property, the solution could be as simple as annoying your neighbour.

“If you ever have wildlife, and it works really well for mammals, you wanna play some really loud, bass rock music and shine some lights and if you can shine lights at them and play music, you know it's not a good place for them to raise babies, they will actually move out,” says Pullen.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Caitlin Andrea