Weeeeell.....there are BAD critters everywhere, that are also good. My cat wants to hunt voles, outdoors.. But Great Horned owls are in every tree just waiting to eat him. I have to sit with him and hover over him, hoping nothing from above swoops down.

Do you have any coyotes to prey on them? I really don't know what nutria are or what they eat.

I do not think coyotes alone will suffice. Louisiana is having a real issue with their damage and their Wildlife and Fisheries dep't is paying a $6 bounty to each nutria tail brought in by hunters.

Every area has something. While nutria do tend to over populate the area it might be a good idea to talk to someone from your state conservation department about them. They are water loving creatures so not easy to contain so most people need to learn about them.

Nutria likely originated on fur farms...I remember in the 1950's and 60's when a top prize on game shows were Nutria fur coats. They are not native to the USA and very, very invasive and destructive. They can reproduce about 10 time faster than rabbits (they reach sexual maturity at only a few months old, can reproduce up to three times a year, and in extreme cases, can have litters of up to 13) and will destroy natural habitat for native species. They are horrible, horrible problem in our wetlands here in the PNW and other places in the USA and apparently all over the world.

Nutria facts

They can be eaten and according to this chef who dresses and cooks it, only the back saddle portion is what is eaten (not the front and not the tail). He cleans it from the time it has fur on it, so be judicious if you want to see it actually prepared.

Nutria are large aquatic rat-like rodents that originated in South America.

I hope that bounty system doesn't create a problem like a similar system caused in India. There they offered a bounty for cobras, but actually catching cobras is difficult and quite dangerous, so those seeking the bounty started raising cobras for the bounty. Then when the authorities caught on and cancelled the program those raising the cobras had no use for them so them released them into the wild, and the problem was very much worse.

I have read about some dog breeders in the Northwest that are intentionally crossing Jack Russell Terriers with Pit Bulls, for the purpose of getting an animal with the "all rats must die!" mindset of a Jack Russell, with the size and strength and bite to actually see it through.

I doubt people would farm nutria for a bounty. It would probably cost them more to feed them than they’d get for a bounty.

Given the rate of reproduction and the fact that they are herbivorous, if the bounty is $6/per tail which means they can sell the fur and the meat and still get a bounty, I don't know. Bob's cobra story certainly showed an angle of bounty hunting I was unaware of.

I'm curious as to why with a 20 lb animal only the saddle is eaten?

In any case, I don't want them living nearby.

The chef just kept saying it wasn't good. I took it to mean it wasn't tasty? But maybe there's more to it.

Good point, Lucille, I didn't think about the herbivore part and fast reproduction. Something they should be aware of if bounties get more common. Here, I was told by a Fed on one of the nature preserves that they sometimes will open the preserve at night on the q.t. for a few hunters to come in and shoot them. As many as they can get in one night. Then they do it again. I guess they don't want Peta to get involved.

I had to look them up. They look like large rats to me.

Unfortunately, they thrive in wetlands and water. Not where there are coyotes or wild cats. Around here our biggest hope beside humans hunting them would be Bald Eagles but the adults are too large. Sometimes as big as a beaver. I suppose an eagle could lift a young one from the water but they aren’t a native species so eagles probably would stay with their usual diet of salmon.

We have to cross a river bottom going to the next town to shop. We played a game of who could spot a coypu (nutria). They could be spotted swimming with their heads just out of the water with a significant wake behind them. They have disappeared.

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought it was going to be food related, another product being pulled from shelves because of E Coli possibilities. LOL! I'd never heard of the animal. So I Googled it. What a nasty looking creature! From the pictures, it's hard to picture its fur being prized, or even just used, for anything!

Rusty

Yes they are disgusting things and like rats and mice, utterly useless for anything but destruction. Ew. I haven't heard of any around here but if for some reason one wandered on my land I would dispatch it without guilt. So far out here i have only had to kill snakes and one wild hog. (I have no IDEA where the hog came from and I am glad I haven't met any of his friends or relatives since) I have had some coyotes wander onto my land too but I am not sure I could bring myself to off one. Too close to a dog even though in reality they too, are useless and harmful creatures. But nutria? No hesitation. I am surprised that more people are not out hunting them. Especially in the south where hunting is a great passion for a lot of people. (Not me) I would think there would be a hoard of hunters jumping at the chance to make some extra cash by killing them.

Nutria fur is not a good looking fur, but dyed nutria coat can be pretty. Opossum fur Is a better fur than nutria, it’s very common being used in reversible coats.

Opossums are good guys though. They eat bugs. I had one living under the house I had some years ago, briefly. So ugly, but I let it stay and eat bugs until it decided to move on.

"Yes they are disgusting things and like rats and mice, utterly useless for anything but destruction."

What an incredibly egocentric view of the world!! No animal put on this earth is utterly useless.....they all serve a purpose in the grand scheme of things. It is just us humans interfering and importing them where they do not live naturally or destroying their natural habitats, forcing them into contact with us that throws the equation out of balance. And then we get all up in arms when - through our own making - they have become a nuisance species!!

btw, even hunting nuisance species would be regulated and monitored. You can't have hunters running around willy-nilly shooting whatever they want whenever they want, even on their own property!!

In Louisiana and other places, ordinary hunting statutes have carved legal exceptions for nutria as far as possession and number allowing and encouraging the hunting of nutria. Louisiana just restarted its $6 tail bounty in November (allowing the hunter to have the meat and fur). Amylou I'm thinking that there will be hunting forays in Louisiana and perhaps everyone was simply waiting until the time of year that the bounties are again paid which in Louisiana just restarted this month.

Unless, of course, the hunters just stick to shooting each other. Now, there's a species that needs to be greatly thinned, in my opinion. What kind of

a human being can look at those beautiful faces and big eyes of deer, etc.,and

just shoot and shoot and gloat about what "big men" they are with their

"big guns". I'm voting for a "Hunter hunting season". Now before everyone (and

you know who you are) jumps all over me....I do realize that animals have to

be taken care of if they are doing great harm to people, farm animals, pets, environment, etc.

The white tailed deer is overpopulating and apparently causing harm to Eastern forests. Many hunting regulations are written to allow a certain number of deer to be hunted so that these sorts of imbalances do not occur.

I saw one the other day while going over a freeway overpass. He was coming from a pond that the on ramp to the freeway has. I didn’t know we had them in this neck of the woods until I saw it.

Nutria used to be used for some pretty upscale fur coats. They were lovely!

Anglo: and that is part of the history of the nutria as a problem. There were a number of nutria farms started in order to harvest their pelts for coats. Ultimately though the nutria farms were not as profitable as anticipated so the nutria were set free and started multiplying and causing damage.

I hope nutria problem can be under controlled soon. There is a similar creature called muskrat, it has been called poor man’s mink, a cheaper fur compare to mink. It creates the same problem. Muskrat and nutria look alike, nutria is much bigger.

I believe muskrats are a native species, with a place in the natural order of things where they belong. Nutria are NOT native to N America and were imported for fur farms. They are wreaking havoc on the habitat they've invaded.