By Tim Binnall
A motorist in Australia could not believe his eyes when he spotted an incredibly rare albino echidna scurrying along the side of the road. According to a local media report, Geoff Hadley encountered the quill-covered creature, which is sometimes called a spiny anteater, earlier this week while driving near the city of Bathurst. Initially thinking that the breathtaking animal might be injured, the kindhearted motorist actually stopped his car, checked on the echidna, which turned out to be fine, and then helped the wondrous critter cross the road.
Hadley was not the only resident to stumble upon the eye-catching animal as local authorities actually took to social media to celebrate the creature after a staff member also came across the echidna. Dubbing the monotreme 'Raffie,' the Bathurst Regional Council declared that "we thought he is just too beautiful not to share," while noting that the animals is "particularly rare with only a handful of the mammals ever sighted in Australia." Understandably, they went on to ask residents to keep their distance from the echidna, should they encounter it, lest they inadvertently harm the creature.