From the deadly dolphin herding event last month in Taiji Cove, or "The Cove" as it is known from the award-winning documentary, emerged a rare albino variation now in the care of the Taiji Whale Museum, National Geographic reported.

Its presence in captivity is yet another stone for western conservationists to throw at the controversial Japanese practice.

"Taking a dependent calf goes against every established conservation principle there is," Naomi Rose, a dolphin and killer whale expert at the Animal Welfare Institute, told Nat Geo. "It was wrong ethically, biologically, and in terms of management. It was wrong on every level and just plain cruel."

Caring for an albino of any wild species, however, would seem to be the most humane catch for a museum, given the pigment-less phenomena are typically easy targets for predators. Indeed, that is the case with dolphins, which require the careful watch of their parents and siblings in order to stay alive. That's been the stance taken by the Taiji Whale Museum

"Albinos stand out and tend to be targeted by predators," said Taiji Whale Museum Assistant Director Tetsuya Kirihata in a statement, according to several media reports. "She must have been protected by her mother and her mates. We will take good care of her."

Rose wouldn't agree on the basic of Kirihata's logic. Though albino dolphins are more targeted in the wild and might represent a mutually beneficial result of the mass dolphin capture, Rose is so against the annual hunt she refuses to acknowledge a bright side. Even if she did, she wouldn't agree that captivity is the safest pace. "Dependent calves" (as she called them) -- albino or not -- have been known to die in captivity from the stress of leaving their protectors. "Angel," as the white dolphin is being called by various groups around the world against "The Cove," might have a greater chance at survival in the wild, according to Stan Kuczaj, director of the Marine Mammal Behavior and Cognition Laboratory at the University of Southern Mississippi.

"Calves that have stranded for various reasons have sometimes been nursed back to health by humans, but others have died," Kuczaj told Nat Geo. "So the calf could survive, but that is certainly not guaranteed. We know little about the effects of trauma [and] stress on young marine mammals, but it seems likely that this calf was very stressed by the hunt and so could be at even greater risk," he continued, "especially since it was separated from its mother."