Did you hear the one about the frozen armadillo????

From the NYTimes:

"Important News You May Have Missed Dept.: While you and I have been spending the fall worrying about the secret talks of the Congressional supercommittee or trying to determine whether it would be a fun idea to dress as Rick Santorum for Halloween, other even more fascinating news events have been occurring.... “Man Allegedly Beat Woman With Frozen Armadillo.”

“According to investigators, the altercation occurred when the suspect was selling the carcass to the victim, who planned to eat the animal,” said a report from Lynn Kawano of Fox 4 News. “The pair apparently began arguing over the price of the item when the man twice threw the armadillo at the woman.”

Another report said the victim knew her attacker and had, in fact, been storing his armadillo in her freezer. But everyone agrees on the salient armadillo-as-weapon point. And we are left with several questions.

Is frozen armadillo illegal? Or is it a sort of sidewalk-vendor novelty item, like frozen custard? Are armadillos tasty? Are they endangered?

No to the last one. “They’re not in any short numbers,” said Scott Vaca, the assistant chief of wildlife enforcement at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He added that it was illegal to sell a live armadillo, but not a dead one.

This seemed a little strange. I’m sure the armadillo, for one, would prefer the live route. But Vaca was really not interested in debating the matter.

“I’m telling you the law,” he said. “It’s illegal to sell a living armadillo. By statute. Dead armadillos you can sell parts of them. Make a curio of a little armadillo on his back drinking a bottle of beer.”

O.K....."

Yeah, best NYT column ever. and more evidence that we should never move to Texas.