Just recently our granddaughters were visiting us for their annual 2 week summer stay. We spent every day boating, swimming and tubing on our beautiful Corps lake. One day we were on our boat going to our favorite swimming area when my husband noticed something in the lake. We went over to it and found a young armadillo trying desperately to swim. I will refer to it as a male just for the sake of this story.
The poor little nipper kept rolling onto his back and his head would go under the water. Our granddaughters cried, "Nana, don't let it drown. Do something". So I immediately jumped into the water with a swimming noodle, looped it around the armadillo's head and he grabbed on. However, he couldn't stay afloat on one noodle so I put a second one around him and he crawled right up on them. I had to swim it to shore, which was quite a distance; so g
lad I had my swim flippers on! The little nipper just hung on - seemed like he knew I was trying to help. When we finally got to shore he didn't have enough strength to crawl out of the water onto land. I kept nudging him and finally got his front feet on land but he couldn't go any farther. I left him there hoping that he would live. Our granddaughters kept assuring us that he would be OK.After more boating and swimming, we went back to check on him. He was still in the same spot and hadn't moved farther onto land but he seemed very alert. So I took a boat paddle, got back into the water and swam to him. I gently pushed him with the paddle and he got most of his body out of th
e water but wouldn't go further. We left for the day but checked on him the next day and he was gone. We have to believe that the little guy was able to find his way to a safe place on land. Our granddaughters were thrilled that he lived!Now remember that armadillos are like the "plague" here in Arkansas. They can wreak havoc in your garden and lawn and are not the friendliest of animals. Everyone I told this story to asked why in the world would I save an armadillo. I said because he was drowning and I couldn't stand to let that happen. Besides, our granddaughters wanted their Nana to help it - how could I not? Now I'm not particularly fond of armadillos but I hope when this little guy grows up he finds the garden or lawn of the person who threw him into the middle of the lake to drown and happily digs up everything! Now that would be justice!
