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Willie Nelson’s Armadillo Band Mascot Returned
No armadillos were harmed in the making of this blog post.* Willie Nelson’s unofficial band mascot, a stuffed armadillo named Ol’ Dillo, has been returned and will soon be reunited with the group after being stolen from the stage at last week’s show in Port Chester, N.Y.
The Associated Press reports that Ol’Dillo was brought back to The Capitol Theatre Friday morning unharmed. Yes, even the Associated Press and CNN were on the case.
The armadillo, who belonged to Nelson’s monitor engineer, Aaron Foye, was snatched following the Sept. 19 concert. Video footage showed a woman committed the armadillo-napping.
Photo: facebook.com/WillieNelson
Willie Nelson’s unofficial band mascot hangs out during a performance.
The Capitol Theatre’s general manager, Tom Bailey, told the AP that a different woman – who did not identify herself – returned O’Dillo in a sealed box. Bailey says that although venue staffers believe they know the armadillo-napper’s identity, Foye doesn’t plan on pressing charges.
Willie Nelson updated his Facebook page about the good news earlier today, saying, “Ol’ Dillo is on his way home! Thank you to all of our friends and family for helping track him down. Thank you Capitol Theatre for having an amazing staff and hunting down clues. Lesson of the week: Only cowards steal from another person, don’t be a coward!”
He added a quote from the Dalai Lama: “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”
*Of course, with Ol’ Dillo being a stuffed armadillo, we can’t totally confirm that he wasn’t harmed to get into his taxidermic-state. But, maybe Ol’Dillo died of natural causes before becoming the band mascot.