Nutria

**Van** · 09-30-2009 10:49 PM

A while back I mentioned that I had what looked like large muskrats living in the backyard along the canal, well I was wrong about them and found out that what we have is a south american rodent called a Nutria. These giant rats are nothing like the sewer rats or norway rats most of us are used to seeing and are of little risk to us but they are destroying wetlands and as I found out tonight undermining river banks as I fell into one of their dens after the earthen roof collapsed underneath me ( I have never moved out of a waist deep hole so fast ). Over the last two weeks I've found two of them dead in the backyard, one a full grown adult the size of a 25lb dog and the other a juvenile about the size of a 7lb cat so I'm not sad to see them go but I'm concerned that someone might be poisoning them which could transfer to other animals or worse.

Looking at the amount of river bank erosion they have caused to the back yard its going to take three to four dump truck loads of fill and soil to reclaim the river bank when the river wall is rebuilt. Anyone living along the gulf coast knows all about these critters but for those who don't heres a website dedicated to information on them.

Home - Nutria.com

**navychop** · 10-01-2009 12:24 PM

Nutria are Nutritious!

Louisiana tried to help reduce their numbers by developing a market to eat these swamp rats. Oddly, the effort failed!

However, the fur is quite nice. Many people have bought "swamp mink" or other labeled furs when in fact the fur is from a Nutria.

So maybe you should view them as a resource, for the pot and clothing. Maybe a nice warm pair of slippers for the whole family?

**Van** · 10-01-2009 05:27 PM

Oh I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.....

**stimpson** · 10-02-2009 10:39 AM

I want to see Navy smoke one of these!!!!!

**Bobby** · 10-02-2009 11:12 AM

Mmmmm.... Pulled nutria!!!!

**navychop** · 10-02-2009 11:36 AM

Actually, to support the state where I was born and raised, I tried to get some. That, and to have a cookout no one would ever forget!

That's when I found out the program had failed and was discontinued. Some restaurant down there bought a bunch and tried to market them. Few if any were sold, and they abandoned the project, as did the state. Sigh. Alligator is so common, and Emu just doesn't have the appeal it once did.

**Van** · 10-02-2009 02:02 PM

I might have tried it at one time but when you find the rotting corpse of one in your back yard in the opening to a den you tend to not want to entertain the thought.

From what I can see of it their coats look allot like beaver and the one that I was able to pet was really soft. The coat has a shine to it and is similar in color to a beaver and about the same length but PETA has a painful presence here and they would have a paint throwing fit over using them for fur coats.