Across the rolling plains of the Midwest, a new species has arrived. Sturdy, unexpected, and hailing from the Texas brush, the armadillo is here to stay.

Allen, a nine-banded armadillo, lives at Second Chances Wildlife Center in Mt. Washington, Kentucky, just outside Louisville.

After a dog attack left him covered in slashes, Allen the armadillo was rescued. Now he’s the most “high-maintenance” resident, said Brigette Brouillard, the center’s founder — “on more supplements than all the other animals combined.”

The rescue, which usually takes in everything from possums to skunks to bats, got its first armadillo six years ago — a newcomer named Arnie. Brouillard had to learn on the fly; she’d never cared for an armadillo before. Now, as armadillos push farther into the Midwest, that crash

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