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Nutria, Myocastor coypus
Image by John and Karen Hollingsworth, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bugwood.org |
Nutria were originally farmed in Louisiana in the 1930's for their fur. Since then, releases have been an ongoing problem. Sometimes it is a result of a storm event such as hurricanes, other times it was due to situations such the collapse of the fur trade in the late 1980's. In the time since they obtained their release into the wild, the nutria have not been sitting idle. "They are now as far afield as the vast network of rivers, estuaries and marshland that drain into the Chesapeake Bay," reports Theo Emery in a New York Times article, "Killed by Thousands, Varmint Will Never Quit."
Read more about the efforts to control nutria in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
