Kentucky Educational Television’s (KET) award-winning show Kentucky Life will premiere its spring season this Saturday with a feature on western Kentucky and its armadillo invasion.
Kentucky Life host Chip Polston says he and his team have spent around 10-11 months working on this story, and spent a lot of time in the region.
He says armadillos have been spotted in western Kentucky for at least the last 15 years, but in the last year or so, they’ve been seen almost to Louisville and in Lexington, including on the University of Kentucky’s campus and near Rupp Arena.
When exploring General Butler State Park, he was able to see armadillos first-hand, follow them around, and learn all sorts of facts about them, like how they can jump six feet in the air and are amazing swimmers. In fact, swimming is one of the theories as to how they made it from Texas up to the Commonwealth.
Interestingly, he adds that armadillos have no natural predators in Kentucky.
Polston says most TV news stories run around 1.5-2 minutes long, so it’s difficult to go in-depth about any given topic. On Kentucky Life, each story featured in one 30-minute episode is around seven minutes long, which allows him and his team to really take their time.
Kentucky Life’s spring season will premiere Saturday, March 21 at 7 p.m. Central Time, running for the next nine Saturdays. The theme this year for the show’s 31st season is celebrating America’s 250th birthday.
Kentucky Life can be watched on KET over the air, online at KET. org or on the KET app.
