ALL THE WAY FROM AUSTIN
Armadillos are marching across South Carolina. Be prepared to live with them

Sammy Fretwell
Sat, January 1, 2022

Emerging from a deer stand in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, Nathan Ginter heard a rustling sound that diverted his attention to a spot along the forest floor.

Not far away stood a collection of strange-looking animals rooting around in the dark.

“I shined a light on them and there were armadillos just everywhere, looking for some type of insects,’’ Ginter said of the encounter in Hampton County about 10 years ago.

It was a moment he won’t forget, and it’s the type of experience others across South Carolina should get used to.

Armadillos, hard-shelled creatures associated with the plains of Texas and the swamps of Florida, are marching through the state as they establish new homes here.

First spotted near the southern section of the Savannah River in the 1980s, armadillos have since showed up in the Columbia, Greenville and Charleston areas. One was seen on the beach at Kiawah Island in 2020. They’ve even moved into the mountains around Pickens and Walhalla during the past decade.

It’s not unusual to find a dead armadillo on the side of a highway or a live one sauntering through a suburban neighborhood. The animals dig in the dirt for worms and bugs they find particularly delectable.

”Lately, it seems like they’ve just taken off,’’ state wildlife biologist Jay Butfiloski said.

Biologists at Congaree National Park southeast of Columbia have seen armadillos in the vast flood plain, and hog hunter Bo Martin said he’s seen them in Lexington County. About the only place he has not encountered an armadillo is the Gaffney area, where he lives.

“They don’t bother nothing, but they are kind of nasty animals,’’ Martin said, noting that armadillos “stink. It’s more or less like a shelled possum. That’s how they refer to them out west.’’

In some residential areas of South Carolina, armadillos are considered a nuisance. Digging can leave lawns pockmarked with holes. Armadillos also can tunnel into lawns and underneath homes.

Some wildlife removal businesses are running large advertisements aimed specifically at eradicating armadillos from people’s homes and property.

One business, for instance, has dedicated multiple web pages to armadillo control services in Greenville and Myrtle Beach. The website said the company only relocates the animals, instead of poisoning them. Armadillo control services also are advertised elsewhere, including Florence and Anderson.

Butfiloski, with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, said armadillos have spread from the sandy lower Savannah River area into places he didn’t expect. That includes the Piedmont and mountains, areas with thick clay soil that’s harder to dig in than the soft soils of the lower Savannah River basin.

“You found them a lot in the sandier-soil type of counties, so you thought maybe that’s a byproduct of the soil types that are common; it’s easy digging.

“But going up into the Upstate, there’s nothing easy about digging in that red clay. It doesn’t seem to have stopped them.’’

While the DNR did not have statistics last week on armadillo sightings, agency biologist Tom Swayngham estimated there are thousands in the Jocassee Gorges mountain preserve alone.

The undeveloped wilderness of 43,500 acres surround Lake Jocassee, called Jim Timmerman Natural Resources Area at Jocassee Gorges, is managed by the S.C. Dept of Natural Resources. The is the view of the lake from atop Jumping Off Rock.

That should be no surprise to people who live just a few miles from Jocassee in North Carolina. The tiny resort community of Sapphire, N.C., has been besieged by armadillos, according to a recent story in the Guardian. Homeowners have complained so mightily that an area resident is being paid to get rid of the animals, the news outlet reported.

Armadillos are believed to have walked or swum into South Carolina from Florida, while others are moving east and north from Texas.

The species most associated with range expansion is the nine-banded armadillo, which National Geographic says arrived in Texas in the 1880s from Latin America.

These types of armadillos have hard protective armor across their bodies, heads and tails, and range in size from 8 to 17 pounds, according to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. Some people say the animals look like possums with shells.

Armadillos are sometimes killed by cars because the animals have a natural tendency to jump – as high as three to four feet – when faced with danger. That can cause them to leap into passing cars.

Some people recoil at the site of armadillos, but Swayngham said others are fascinated by their appearance.

Scientists and wildlife managers can’t say conclusively why armadillos have moved into South Carolina, or other states in the South and Midwest. But warmer temperatures from the earth’s changing climate could be a factor. The animals can withstand some cold weather, yet they prefer milder climates.

Or it could be simply that the animals, by nature, are prone to move around when they have the opportunity.

Climate change “could be part of it, but I don’t think it’s the main driver,’’ said Patrick McMillan, a former Clemson University professor and host of a nationally broadcast educational television nature program.

“The main driver may be more that these interstate highways and railroads and all the corridors are good armadillo habitat. They’ve just utilized those to drive their range expansion.’’

Swayngham said he also suspects some armadillos have been transported to certain areas and released, although he’s not sure why. Last July, DNR enforcement agents found armadillos and other wild animals at a mobile home in Lee County during an investigation of illegal wildlife trading.

Armadillos aren’t considered dangerous, except that they can carry disease. Among the diseases associated with armadillos is leprosy, a debilitating illness that can cripple or paralyze people and cause blindness if left untreated.

Ginter, a wildlife removal specialist from Columbia, said he expects armadillo populations to grow in the capital city as they journey across the landscape. He gets several calls a month now, as opposed to one annually a few years ago, he said.

“They’re trickling in,’’ he said. “They are starting to root up people’s grass.’’

Karen Marts also submitted this photo of an armadillo, which she spotted during a walk at Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. “I was walking on the main road of Pinckney Island last October, and some hikers said a 9-banded armadillo was in the long grass. He was digging for insects, and moved at a quick pace. ... This little animal seemed uninterested in me, and eventually just walked away.”

McMillan and Butfiloski said people should get used to armadillos.

It’s not worth the state trying to eradicate them, in part because they are not as destructive as wild hogs, nor are they particularly dangerous, Butfiloski said.

“Armadillos — you are going to have to learn to live with them,’’ McMillan said.