County man finds armadillo in road
BRANSON MO NEWS: INDIANOLA – On Tuesday morning, Rodney Miller of Indianola noticed passersby stopping in front of his house to take photos of something he had never seen before on his road. There on the side of 370 North Road, was a dead armadillo.“I had heard about them being around,” Miller said. “But I have never seen one until now.”With its back split open, it appeared the animal — which is notably native to Texas and Central America — had been hit by a vehicle.
Miller said when he called the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, he was told that it wasn’t necessary for the body to be picked up, but the department wanted photos of it.While it was unusual to see an armadillo for Miller and the drivers who stopped to get a better look, Ed Cross of the IDNR said these placental mammals have been slowly making their way up north for several years.
They’ve been spotted mostly in southern Illinois, but there also have been sightings in central areas such as Edinburg and Decatur.
“In places like Branson, Missouri, they have armadillos like we have raccoons or opossums here,” Cross said. “Their bodies aren’t meant to tolerate winter. If the cold weather doesn’t kill them, it will kill their food.”Considering the mild winters central Illinois has experienced the past several years, it’s not unlikely animals accustomed to warmer climates will venture here.As for the armadillo found in near Indianola, Miller said someone in a white truck stopped to take photos of it, and then scooped the body up and drove away.
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