Nutria in California

Nutria (Myocaster coypus) is native to South America, but like many introductions in the early 1900s it has backfired spectacularly. Nutria were introduced for the fur industry, back when fur was fashionable, and were an alternative to muskrat. Nutria are much larger than muskrat also, and therefore each animal provides more fur per body. Economically, I suppose you could justify it that way. HOWEVER, hindsight is 20/20 and it was clearly a disastrous idea 100+ years down the road.

Many news articles make it sound like every acre of Louisiana wetlands is destroyed by nutria. That's not exactly true in 2018. Nutria herbivory is prevalent and there are definitely areas with widespread damage. However and luckily, the population seems to be checked by trappers and the LDWF bounty program, in my anecdotal experience. Controlled, probably, but nowhere near eradication. Eradication is impossible, in my opinion. They're sneaky, surprisingly hard to kill with a .22, have many offspring, and are widespread in coastal areas. We probably can't eradicate them but we definitely can keep the population in control. 

California is currently dealing with this problem as well, and I hope they go straight to a bounty or open season type approach for control. Why Louisiana has a defined hunting season for nutria and it isn't just open season year round is beyond me. An invasive, nonnative species that's causing massive problems should be fair game as far as I'm concerned. Conservation of the native important habitat (wetlands) FAR outweighs the invasive animal (nutria), or the value of their pelts. 

California v nutria: state seeks to eradicate scourge of giant rodents

The Guardian, article dated 15 August 2018

Nutria information 

American's Wetlands Foundation, website accessed 15 August 2018

PS - Nutria does taste great in my experience so eat it! It's lean, and they're strictly vegetarians, so they eat far better than most of our food does. Just toss it in a gumbo and enjoy. Save the wetlands, eat a nutria!