‘Cursed’ albino mole is caught by Culloden mole catcher in Inverness
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A CULLODEN mole catcher was surprised when he was carrying out a routine assignment and he caught a rare albino specimen.
Matthew Woolley, of Moray Park Gardens, was working in the Essich Road area of Inverness where he had caught three moles which had been damaging a man’s lawn.
He said: “When I returned to check traps, I noticed one had sprung so pulled it up and realised something wasn’t quite right with the colouring.
“It didn’t look right but something didn’t register with me. I pulled it up and I thought it has to be an albino – but it was a shock.
“I had previously seen pictures of albino moles but never ever expected to actually catch one. It’s the first one I’ve seen in the flesh.”
The 52-year-old said he kept the white mole in his freezer until he could find a taxidermist who could preserve the critter and added: “I found a very helpful one who has mounted the mole coming out of a hole.”
Mr Woolley, who is a time served bricklayer, has been catching moles since the age of 10 when he was taught how to trap them by an old mole catcher.
He said: “Mole catching used to be a part-time thing, but over the last few years it seems to take up a lot of my time as more and more folk seem to be looking for my services. I cover Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, Nairn and occasionally work in Forres and Elgin and Aviemore.”
There is a superstition that if a mole catcher caught an albino mole then it would foretell his own death but Mr Woolley said he was not overly concerned. He added: “I’ve had it over a month and I’m not dead yet.”
According to the British Mole Catchers Register just 0.001 per cent of the UK’s 40 million moles are true albinos.
