Such as the Life Science II building, where the armadillo is being studied intently, in the zoology department on the third floor. “When you talk (climate change), you really have to tailor it to your audience, but even someone ideologically conservative (on the subject of climate change), when they see an armadillo in Illinois, walking around their backyard, they tend to recognize, OK, something’s different now.”ĭriving into Carbondale, headed for the main campus of Southern Illinois University, where the majority of research on armadillos in Illinois has been happening, you realize, in spring, before the bloom has begun, you are looking for a beige mammal foraging through a beige backdrop of beige grass, against a landscape of beige buildings. “It’s a living illustration of the insidious effects of climate change,” said Trent Ford, Illinois state climatologist. “They don’t have sheer numbers yet to be widely destructive, but I bet the population is bigger than we know.”Īnd the situation itself, is more serious.įor starters, biologists are watching the settling of armadillos across Illinois as more than a lawn-care issue. “They’re burrowing under foundations, porches,” said David Easton of Easton’s Wildlife and Mole Control in Jackson County. Same for southern Illinois, where homeowners with similar problems told me their honeymoon with the cute creature is over. Eric Schauber, director of the Illinois Natural History Survey, characterized them as “a visible new species in the state,” thankfully “not causing ecological harm.” Since they made it to Illinois largely on their own four feet and were not introduced by people, they’re not even classified as “invasive.”īut in North Carolina and Virginia, where armadillos are also relatively new additions, they are becoming a routine source of ripped-up gardens and lawns. Pritzker noted the presence of armadillos in a tweet celebrating Wildlife Conservation Day. He still wouldn’t shake out, so in the end, I had to tear him out of the bag.In December, Gov. ![]() I tried to shake the armadillo out, but his claws caught on the plastic and snagged, so I had to actually reach into the bag and dislodge his claws. I am not a person who litters, so I didn’t want to just put the plastic bag out there. So I transported the body to a grassy area alongside the train tracks. I didn’t want to just put the now-frozen armadillo back on the road at the top of my driveway again. My dog was asleep on the sofa and didn’t even look up. Holding the bag at arm’s length, I walked outside. And I should probably be wearing a Hazmat suit to do all this.įeeling totally creepy and afraid I was exposing myself to a condition that would find me rotting on an island with a bunch of other people who had been crazy enough to handle armadillos, I yanked the plastic bag out of the freezer. I realized I would have to get rid of, not just the armadillo, but all of the food in the freezer and probably the ice cube trays too. ![]() ![]() Well, of course I had showered after packaging and transporting the dead armadillo, but still, when I got off the phone, I stood in front of a mirror and thoroughly inspected myself for lesions.
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