(Published in the print edition June 28, 2023)
A nine-banded armadillo found himself in an unlikely place—at the bottom of an empty swimming pool being prepared for the summer swimming season.
A photo submitted to the Hendersonian in May shows the armadillo against the blue backdrop of the floor of the pool at the home of Steve and Janna Reed on Frog Island Road in Anthoston.
Janna Reed said she went out to the pool one morning and saw the animal at the bottom of the pool.
“I don’t think I’m seeing what I’m seeing,” she said she thought to herself.
The Reeds were doing upkeep to the pool when the armadillo must have slipped into it, probably at night. They had epoxied the bottom of the pool and unfortunately, the armadillo died before they could get the animal out, Reed said.
She said her son, who lives 1/3 mile away, saw another armadillo in his yard three days later at 10:30 p.m.
On June 22, this reporter spotted a roadkill armadillo on South Green Street.
The nine-banded armadillo is found across much of the southern and western United States, according to information from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. Armadillo sightings are becoming more prevalent in Kentucky as the animals move north from warmer climates. Reports of nine-banded armadillos in Kentucky started in the mid-1980s, said the KDFWR.
But there have only been two official sightings recorded in Henderson County by KDFWR—one in 2014 and one in 2017.
Zach Couch, nongame program coordinator with KDFWR, said that the department’s species observations originate from KDFWR staff, permitted scientists and biologists and citizen scientists.
Nearby, there is one record of an armadillo sighting in Daviess County in 2018, four sightings in Union County from 2020-2022 and no sightings from Webster County, said Couch. He said sightings there have probably gone unreported.
He said it’s “a good question” in response to why the species is moving north.
“We don’t know for certain,” he said. “But, we’re observing a similar trend of northern expansion in a few other southern species including the evening bat, Mexican free-tailed bat, and even fire ants. I’d imagine that climate change/milder winters are allowing for these species to maintain populations are (sic) high latitudes.”
