Forest rangers in the northern Italian Alps have for the first time taken pictures of an albino mountain goat at about 10,000 feet above the Les Laures valley in the northwestern Val d'Aosta region.

Named "Snowflake", the albino capra ibex was seen climbing with its mother Sunday, reports Christian Chioso a regional wildlife official. The occurrence of Albinism is rare in any species and has not been previously documented among this type of goat.

AP quotes Chioso as saying, "This is the only one ever documented, the only one ever seen." Capra ibex is a type of wild mountain goat with large curved horns that lives in mountainous areas.

It is estimated that the albino animal is about a year old.