So why the heck didn't she just trap the armadillos instead of cutting down producing fruit trees?
But thinking about it, I don't believe she is correct. Armadillos are insect and grub feeders, not fruit feeders. I hate trapping them myself to move them out of here (they are digging underneath the steps, the shed, and once toppled over the propane tank for my generator) because they seem to love tearing up fire ant mounds.
Now possums? Yeah, they are always getting into our fruit trees. Matter of fact, they ate all the asian pears this year and most of the other pears we had. So I need to do something about them for next season. Maybe put aluminum flashing around the bases of the trees so they can't climb up into them to get to the fruit.
Anyway, regardless of the varmints causing headaches, I'll tell you, it is an absolute joy to be able to take a walk on your own property and pull off fruit to eat from your own fruit trees while taking that walk. Of course, the down side to that is that we really can't eat "store bought" tangerines any longer, since they don't taste nearly as good as the stuff we grow. And we laugh at those pitiful looking lemons at the grocery store. It would take about three of them to equal one of Connie's from her trees.