A rare albino wild boar may have been living in woodland on the outskirts of Ashford.

But unfortunately the magnificent white creature was found dead at the roadside, after possibly being hit by a vehicle, and as the body has mysteriously disappeared experts are unable to confirm whether it was an actual albino or simply a pale-coloured wild boar.

The body of the animal was found on Hamstreet Road, between Bromley Green and the Sugarloaf crossroads, towards the end of last month.

A photograph of the boar was passed to the Kentish Express' Hamstreet and Snave correspondent Adam Colton, but what happened to the body remains a mystery.

Rumours circulating in the area suggest villagers loaded the animal on to a trailer and drove it to a zoo, but staff at Port Lympne and Howletts Wild Animal Parks and Wildwood near Herne Bay, which specialises in the conservation of British wildlife, all say they haven’t seen the animal.

Ashford Borough Council, which can sometimes be called to deal with small roadkill, also confirmed it had not removed the boar.

Even though there are thought to be as many as 50 wild boar living in Burnt Oak Wood, Birchett Wood, Statle Wood or other nearby forested areas, if this one was an albino it is likely to have been the only one.

Fiona Paterson from Wildwood explained: “There is unlikely to be many or indeed any more albino wild boar as albinism is relatively rare.

“It is caused by a rare genetic mutation, which limits the amount of a pigment called melanin the body produces.

“Animals with albinism are born with little or no pigmentation in their fur, skin or eyes, resulting in very pale or pure white fur and often distinctive pink eyes.”

Mr Colton said the discovery of the body was “proof these creatures are still to be found in small numbers in the local forests that were once part of the great forest of Anderida, which covered the whole of the South East.”

However, wild boar expert and television personality Derek Harman, who lives in Wittersham, not far from where the boar’s body was discovered, believes the animal could simply have been a light-coloured version of the more traditional brown boar.

Mr Harman, who has not seen our picture as he doesn’t have email access, said: “One of the animals from the original herd that escaped from a farm in Tenterden in 1989 was a very pale-coloured animal.

“They vary in colour from very dark to a pale cream, so there are quite a few light-coloured ones in the Hamstreet area.”

Wild boar became extinct in Britain in the 17th century, but in the past few decades the animals have been farmed for their meat.

Some determined groups took the opportunity to escape their fate when storms damaged fences in the late 1980s, and there are now known populations in Shadoxhurst, Mersham, Ruckinge and Hamstreet – as well as many other parts of the country.

Other albino animals spotted in Kent in recent years include squirrels in Hawkinge and Herne Bay and a blackbird and a spider near Maidstone.