Crackdown on giant rodent after colony found in state
A remarkably destructive rodent that can grow up to 3 feet long and 20 pounds has been spotted in California for the first time in nearly half a century, prompting state wildlife officials to announce an aggressive crackdown.
Officials fear the ill-famed nutria — which resembles a large rat but prefers wetter, rural environments — could bring havoc to farmland, canals, roadbeds and natural wetlands. Native to South America, the animal was imported to the United States more than a century ago for its fur, but feral populations have established themselves, at times decimating surroundings by tearing up land and vegetation.
Confirmed sightings in California have been limited to 20 in recent months. The reports are mostly from remote areas in three Central Valley counties — Stanislaus, Merced and Fresno. But
officials say the animals’ uncanny ability to reproduce, with one female spawning as many as 200 offspring, could quickly escalate the problem.
“You can imagine hundreds of these things digging holes in California’s water and flood control systems and on farms, and it’s not hard to see the damage,” said Peter Tira, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We don’t want to get to that point.”
The department has convened a coalition of local, state and federal agencies to assess the scale of the infestation. The group has been installing cameras and setting traps since early last year, after a pregnant female was found in Gustine (Merced County), about 30 miles west of Merced. Once the extent of the outbreak is known, the group will develop an eradication plan.
“We didn’t know at first if it was a small, isolated population,” Tira said. “But it became clear that it’s a breeding population, and they’re reaching major waterways where they can move.”
The problems associated with unchecked nutria have played out in other parts of the country, including Louisiana and the Chesapeake Bay region. With no natural predators around, rodent numbers in these places have multiplied into the tens of thousands. Huge packs have dug up hills and riverbanks and mowed down marshlands.
In some spots, nutria have contaminated drinking water supplies. The animals can transmit parasites and disease to humans, livestock and pets.
The rodents, which are sometimes mistaken for beavers or muskrats, are distinguished from other semiaquatic creatures by their slender, ratlike tail. Their fur is generally brown or grayish and they deploy large front teeth. Adaptions that have made them comfortable in the water include webbing between four of the five toes on their hind feet.
Nutria were brought to California in 1899, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife. When they escaped from fur farms and began living in the wild, state officials opened a campaign to eradicate the vermin. The rodent was believed to have been killed off in the 1960s.
State officials aren’t sure why the animal is back, but one theory ascribes the re-emergence to a remnant colony that lived off the radar in an isolated pocket of Stanislaus County.
“Maybe with the drought and having to move to find water, they expanded,” Tira speculated. “But we don’t know for sure.”