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Controlling Armadillos

Brodhead beat East Troy last night by at least 40/7. Don't know the final because we left with 3 minutes on the clock and we saw Brodhead intercept one as we drove away. On the way home, we got on the topic of running things over with the car. We started to speculate about what hitting an armadillo would be like. Do they just crumple up and die, or is it like punting a football? We have been northerners all our lives, and this simply isn't an issue we encounter. They look kind of cute in an armored-car sort of way, and seem harmless enough at the zoo.

This discussion lead in to what do they eat. I thought bugs, but wasn't sure. When we got home, we did a little search on the beast. What disgusting rats with shells they turned out to be! They are unbelievably diseased! 53% have leprosy. Hell, if you saw one without a leg you wouldn't be thinking that was the cause. Yuck! Salmonella, tape worms, rabies. The list goes on and on. Armadillos are a common wildlife pest species in the south. The biggest problem that they cause is that they dig up people's yards, besides being nasty and stank. Here are a few of their favorite hobbies:
  • Making large burrows under the house
  • Tearing up & destroying landscaping
  • Making holes all over the yard
  • Tunneling leading to cracks in foundation
  • Destroying pipes under home
For the above reasons, it's often a good idea to have nuisance armadillos trapped and removed from your property. This is the only effective control means. I guess that leaves the Toyota out of it. They pretty much eat anything, but mostly insects.

There are buisnesses all over that remove them. The Trapper Guy and Orlando Armadillo Control are just a couple. I can't believe what a gross job this would be. Imagine even touching a cage that had an animal with leprosy in it. I would be inclined to just shoot the damn thing myself, but imagine baby armadillos under your porch rotting for three years...and having to remove the carcass yourself. Mike was thinking high-powered riffle, to make sure you penetrate the hide. Awsome, blown tapeworms and leprosy-infected tissue all over the yard. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I'm staying in Wisconsin. Skunks, coons and possums are piggy enough.

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