A STUNNED Devon pest controller has beaten odds of 100,000 to one – by catching a rare albino mole.
Dave Archer, 52, has been trapping the elusive animals for 30 years and snares as many as 50 a day but in all that time he has never seen a white one.
He says white moles stuffed and made into ornaments can sell for as much as £600.
Dave, of Winkleigh, said the rare animal is male – and probably about a year old.
He said: "I felt it and thought it felt like a big one. But until I pulled it out I didn't realise how unusual it was going to be.
"Every now and then you hear about someone, somewhere catching one of these rare and wonderful animals. But in all my 33 years doing this job, I've caught hundreds of thousands of moles and never seen one.
"I'm amazed to have caught one because they've achieved an almost mythical status."
Moles are considered a pest by farmers who pay Dave £16 to remove each one with humane traps.
He says he is run off his feet tackling a boom in mole infestations.
