A WEST Devon gamekeeper this week spoke of the farming community?s shock and anger at the killing of a rare white stag. The stag, known as Snowy, had been roaming across at least ten farms in the borough for nine years ? but the regular sightings of the handsome creature suddenly ceased this month. Pat Carey, a gamekeeper and deer stalker for 46 years, said he and farmers in the area were horrified at what he described as a senseless killing. He said: ?It was a pleasure to know he was out there and now some irresponsible person has shot him ? why we don?t know. ?There are thousands of red deer around and they need to be controlled, but when you have something so rare, so beautiful, why shoot it? ?Why couldn?t a gorgeous animal like that have lived his life out? It?s just so sad. ?There?s no value in venison at the moment ? I don?t suppose that carcass was even worth £100. The farmers around here are really up in arms about it.? Mr Carey said Snowy was first spotted in the area when he was about six months old. ?I filmed him when he was about three, and I?ve been filming him periodically since then, in the October red rut, and in the summer months, for the last five or six years. ?He was very well known in the area, farmers would come up to me and say things like, ?Oh, Snowy turned up again this morning?. ?They felt honoured and privileged to have him on their land.? Mr Carey said he first suspected Snowy had met an untimely end when a friend stopped him at Okehampton Farmers? Market to say he had seen a white stag hanging in a game dealer?s larder in Crediton. ?He was not hanging in a tree minus his head, as has otherwise been reported,? said Mr Carey, who said white red deer were ?very rare indeed?. A police spokesman confirmed that a member of the public had reported that Snowy had not been sighted in the area for some time. The spokesman said: ?We cannot establish that a crime has been committed. It?s unfortunate that the person who shot it picked a white deer, which would appear to have been a bit of a pet to the local community, but it?s not an offence to shoot a red deer because it is white. ?It was legally registered and it has been dealt with by a game-licensed butcher.? l Snowy, right, pictured by a member of the public.