We’ve felt torn about how to tell this story as it isn’t as cute as the photos. We’ve been plagued by critters – racoons & opossums menace our chickens, squirrels poach our fruit & the worst critter of all is the adorable Armadillo.

These creatures may seem like a friend as their diet mainly consists of insects. Problem is they also love earthworms and our orchards are abundant in them by design creating a veritable dillo smörgåsborg. For months we’ve awoken to heart-breaking scenes of destroyed gardens and ripped up crops. We set out to trap the dillos but found it impossible to coax them into one as they only seek live prey beneath the earth. We tried non-lethal methods but they’re surprisingly elusive when they pick up your presence.

A few weeks ago I’d had enough, loaded my .22 rifle and tracked down a dillo in the act of tearing apart our blueberry mound. I had a good shot and took it. The next day we buried it with honors in our compost pile relieved that the war was over. It was not. A few days ago we found new signs of dillo damage and soon after I caught three juvenile dillos scratching through a garden bed. It dawned on me that these pups were the offspring of the dillo I had killed weeks prior and this realization made my heart sink and my head spin. The next day I released them in a state forest.

This whole experience has stuck with us. Yes, armadillos are invasive to Florida but so are we European-descendant humans. Yes, the dillos are just looking for food but so too is my family. It’s an age-old conundrum that literally keeps me up at night and a war that plays out every day on our farm. Our cats hunt mice, but sometimes kill birds, the praying mantises prey on harmful insects but also kill beneficial pollinators and on and on it goes.

The lesson is balance is the key to everything. If we humans don’t manage pests, we’ll starve. If we overcompensate all creatures will starve. As we move on from this sad chapter, we’re inspired anew to maintain balance. To treat all life, whether friend or foe, with respect and take solace in the fact that if something is not trying to eat our crops, then our crops are not part of the ecosystem.

The “small” issue of Armadillos in Florida Farming

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