ARMADILLO'S THE SCOURGE OF THE EARTH

[Silent Earth]

Armadillos are an invasive species Silent Earth. They aren't native to the United States. They came up from Mexico, and were introduced to Florida and spread from there...and are still spreading.

Pink is predicted future range

Hmm possible food source ??

 

[Rob Painless]

Many people don't know that the prairie dogs are actually a squirrel and like a squirrel are good eating so when we do shoot them we eat them, we get food and problem solved for a period of timed, they live in coteries (groups) so seeing just one means many with many holes

Seriously....do you really eat them? I had a great-great-uncle who said if they had been called 'prairie squirrels' or 'prairie hogs' instead of prairie dogs they would be extinct because of how good they were to eat. But I've never tried one, even though I suspected they're pretty good. Cook like rabbits?

 

[Rob Painless]

During the depression and other bad times many Americans relied upon gophers and the associated rattlers as the only source of meat. I thought they improved the soil quality with their tunneling and crapping?

I've never known of anyone to eat a gopher. There's so little meat on them, it would hardly be worth it. In a survival situation, maybe, I guess. And I have certainly never heard anyone suggest that their soil was 'improved' by the presence of prairie dogs. Aside from poisoning them, they are almost impossible to get rid of, and so it would be almost impossible to use the land as long as they were still present. Ruined, yes. Devastated, yes. But not improved.

 

[Maverick]

Seriously....do you really eat them? I had a great-great-uncle who said if they had been called 'prairie squirrels' or 'prairie hogs' instead of prairie dogs they would be extinct because of how good they were to eat. But I've never tried one, even though I suspected they're pretty good. Cook like rabbits?

Yes, they are good, the are better than the common douglas and gray squirrels, I find them better than rabbits, many recipes online for prairie hogs. Also check with one's wildlife department, in some parts of the country the bubonic plague is decimating the prairie dog population, right now we don't have that problem in my state at least. Like any animal always pay attention to the wildlife department and ask questions.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95887

 

[Rob Painless]

Bubonic plague, huh. That sucks. I wonder if it would be killed in cooking. Seriously though, I hope the plague never gets started out here. Fleas get pretty bad sometimes & are tough to control/eradicate, and with the animals/fowl we have here....could be a real threat.

 

[Maverick]

Bubonic plague, huh. That sucks. I wonder if it would be killed in cooking. Seriously though, I hope the plague never gets started out here. Fleas get pretty bad sometimes & are tough to control/eradicate, and with the animals/fowl we have here....could be a real threat.

I wouldn't handle the animal if infected, if the skin and fleas are infected one be taking a chance, their was a report of a little girl burying a dead squirrel I think in Colorado she died from the plague, they aren't sure if it was from handling or flea bites from the dead squirrel? Biologist checks wild animals often for deceases and makes it's report so keeping in contact with wildlife officials is a good start, I'm not overlay concerned given both leprosy and the plague are very treatable and rare to get. All we need to know is the symptoms and inform the doctors we were in a risk environment or activity. These things have always been around us thus we shouldn't live in fear nor a bubble.