Southern U.S.: Armadillos blamed for leprosy (don't eat Armadillo meat)

Telegraph ^ | 04/28/11

[RegulatorCountry]

Thanks for posting the Lone Star Beer armadillo photos, I’m having to work up a knitting program for Nine Banded Armadillo boot socks, and a clear shot of how the bands look is hard to come by. Should look pretty cool, the pattern’s going to be drop stitch on a flat knit with lycra. Does the species always appear beige-brown-grey like this? I thought they were shades of grey.

[TigerLikesRooster]

If you want to get rid of annoying house guests, you might find it useful. Bring it out at the last moment, and most of them probably hit the door immediately.

[Ditter]

I have known that armadillos are carriers of leprosy for most of my life. I wonder what percentage of the animals are carriers and do they die of it as well?

[bannie]

I have no idea! I was privileged to live in Texas for about a year in 1979/80. I remember a great advertisement for Lone Star Beer in which the fat, tall, old wife of a short, fat, cigar-ed millionaire mocked her husband with, “I know all about the armadillo!”

I do remember a LOT of roadkill armadillos though.

:-)

[blam]

"I have known that armadillos are carriers of leprosy for most of my life."

Me too.

Why are they treating this as some new discovery?
Around here (the South), we've know this our whole lives.

[RegulatorCountry]

I’ve heard they have an odd habit of jumping and rolling into a ball when frightened, leading to getting embedded in the grilles of oncoming traffic, or worse, ping-ponged into the windshield.

I’ve only seen one live one in person, drove out to New Mexico from North Carolina during summer break when I was in college to visit with my dad in Las Cruces, he was setting up a manufacturing plant and was there for six weeks. That one was grey, almost silvery.

[clbiel]

Dang, and they were keeping the roads so ‘dillo free, but then I always thought you were supposed to throw the roadkill INTO the burn barrel, not on top with spices.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Where did they get that from? Certainly not from the CDC, which lists leprosy as a nationally notifiable disease, subject to quarantine due to its public health threat.

There was a long time leper colony in Carville, La. (Yes, like James Carville) that closed years ago. I often wonder why. Perhaps the National Health Service decided it was not contagious.

[SunkenCiv]

Pretty much the only critters who even *get* leprosy.

[Rebelbase]

Armadillo is the most gristly meat I’ve ever eaten.

[Ditter]

Have you ever eaten Blue Marlin? We tried but there is a tough membrane about every half inch. It wasn’t worth the effort.

[SIDENET]

if anyone could enlighten me, how do they taste?

Like leprosy.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

The original Hoover Hog of the 1930s depression, now the Obama Approved Pork roast.

[Ole Okie]

we can’t quite imagine eating armadillo

In Texas, you gotta eat around the tire tracks.

[wildbill]

This information came out decades ago. I know because it scared the hell out of me and made a big enough impression that I quit eating Armadillo chili.

[Pelham]

Armadillo, tastes like automobile tires.

[Grammy]

They have moved into middle Tennessee. I saw 2 dead ones next to each other on our road this week.