South American Rodents Found in Seattle (Big 'uns! Hide yur cheese, They're here Alert!)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 4/15/06 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

SEATTLE - A water-loving rodent native to South America that has destroyed thousands of acres of wetlands in the southeast has been spotted near Lake Washington.

Nutria are semi-aquatic, chocolate-colored rodents that can weigh more than 20 pounds and eat one-quarter of their weight a day in crops and plants of all varieties. Also called coypu, or swamp rats, they burrow through marshes and levies, and females can produce more than a dozen offspring a year.

A trapper recently caught nine along the shores of Lake Washington. Two University of Washington students are studying the rodents to determine where they may show up next.

"It's a pretty ominous picture when you bring nutria into an area where they didn't exist before," said Mike Davison, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. "There is no way of winning on this if nutria establish."

A statewide Invasive Species Council was recently created to track nutria and other invasive plant and animal species, and to find methods for removing them.

The council will include six state agencies and two counties and will work with federal and other government agencies, business, tribal and nonprofit groups. It plans to meet in coming months.

"Having an Invasive Species Council is a big step forward," said Joan Cabreza, invasive species coordinator with the Northwest regional office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Washington has lagged behind states like Oregon and Idaho that already have such councils that work to prevent introduction of invasive species. Without such a council, no single agency had the authority to act, Cabreza said.

"If you can get on these things early and get people to understand how important it is, the impact is really small," said Bill Brookreson, deputy director for the state Agriculture Department.

Nationally, nutria are found in at least 15 states, including Louisiana, Texas, the Carolinas, Florida, Maryland and Oregon.

In the 1930s and '40s, they were raised in Washington and elsewhere for their fur. They're vulnerable to cold and flooding, though, and it's believed they died out of the Puget Sound region over the years.

Populations have established in southwest Washington, near Vancouver, where they've turned local dikes to "Swiss cheese," said Davison.

Last summer, more than a dozen were caught in Skagit County in a state-led control effort.

Davison helped in the project in Skagit County, where agricultural and forestry industries and reliance on levies make the area vulnerable to the pests. Traps are still being laid and nutria caught are killed.

Milder weather could have helped the nutria spread into the Puget Sound area, as well as a lack of predators like caiman and alligators in their native environment.

Armed with large packs, camera gear and notebooks, UW students Phu Van and Filip Tkaczyk are documenting where the interlopers are living, how many there are and what they're eating. They're focusing on an area of fields and wetlands north of Husky Stadium.

Along the shoreline, the large rodents have flattened grass and cattails, creating "runways" as they travel from the water to dens to fields where they graze among the Canada geese.

Ed Cunningham, a Highline High School educator who also runs a trapping business, was called this winter by a Lake Washington resident who wanted the rodents removed.

He used bait and wire cages to trap nine of the rodents over a couple of weeks in February and March.

"What we need to do is get some sterile alligators that like cold water," joked Cunningham. "I'm not going to get them all."

[NormsRevenge]

I lived in an area that actually had some geese stay year round due to hot water discharge keeping open water year round even when well below zero, in the summers some would nest near and on our farm.

They can definitely leave a mess and affect the area and not in a good way when large flocks are involved.

I've heard of the problems there and elsewhere.

[CWOJackson]

Jim McDermott, Patty Murry, Maria Cantwell, thousands of geese and now giant water rats.

Fortunately, we're in the process of moving.

[T-Bro]

In Louisiana, they tried publishing recipes for nutria in an attempt to get people to assist in their eradication by eating them. When that didn't work, they put a bounty on them, but again, no luck.
They finally got smart and passed a law making it illegal to kill and eat a nutria. Cajuns couldn't resist and the nutria population has been going down ever since.

[Flavius]

Cooking Nutria

Life-long residents of these parts say just about nuthin' beats well-prepared nutria. The meat on this rodent adapts well to a variety of cooking styles, especially Cajun recipes. But you don't have to get fancy to enjoy it. My momma used to serve up fried nutria at least once a week, and I'm including her recipe on this list.

Some folks turn up their noses at the thought of dining on these critters. I say get off your damn high horse and live a little. Nutria meat is surprising lean without the so-called "gamey" taste that city folk associate with deer or squirrel. A lot of people say it tastes like rabbit, only better. Female nutria are as tender as slow-cooked pork, though males can get a little tough.

Depending on how you prepare it, nutria is a tad odorous during cooking. Before frying, trim off any fat you see. When browning the meat to add to a stew or gumbo, canola oil is your best bet. Soaking the meat in a bowl full of beer, preferably Pabst Blue Ribbon, will cut down on the stench as well.

Bunky reminds you all that the best way to save nutria is probably to smoke them slowly over a hardwood fire. Salting works as well, but you then have to rinse and soak the meat before you use it. Pickling or canning is fine for prepared sauces, but they don't keep nearly as well. Of course, the Bunk really thinks nutria should be eaten fresh and is checking around with school lunch programs and prison kitchens to see what their needs are.

Come on by the palace and cook along with Pappy, learning these and many more recipe delights.

Recipes:

* Momma's Fried Nutria * Heart Healthy "Crock-Pot" Nutria * Nutria Pate * Nutria, Wild Boar, and Crawfish Egg Roll Towers

[ncObserver]

Not a big deal. Nutria have been in North Carolina for years and years.

[Conservative4Ever]

Why does that seem funny in a way?

Nope not gonna say a thing..not gonna go there...sitting on hands now...

[DTogo]

Waterborne relative? ;^)

[JRios1968]

No, they're eating the beavers American dykes won't eat...

[JRios1968]

Did you make sure to retract the opus? :)

[southernnorthcarolina]

Nutria alert!

[doug from upland]

The solution is simple. Korean barbeques will solve it.

[pennboricua]

Is the pet food industry regulated to such an extent that some one with an entrepreneurial spirit would not consider it as organic food and healthier for your pets?

[NormsRevenge]

I hear ya. here we have boxer feinstein pelosi , honda is my local rep here..

Good luck when and where ya move.

[tubebender]

What happened to the day when you could take your 22 down to the slough and pop off a few pests...

[null and void]

*groan* Uh, I mean *moan*

[Hexenhammer]

Got 'em up here in Oregon too. Almost hit one with a golf ball a couple years ago as it was crossing the fairway between a pair of large ponds.

[NormsRevenge]

sigh..

we used to have a gas delivery guy, Cliff, used to carry a 22 in his cab, he'd pick gophers off way out there in the fields, guy was a dead eye,, use to get 25 cents a head for them,


A thing this big? no problemo ,, not sure how well they'd BBQ up tho,

[SampleMan]

ROUS's?

[tubebender]

One of my brothers drove a fuel truck on the west side of Fresno county and he carried a 22 and a single shot 16 gage. If the pheasant was close enough he used the shot gun. Longer shots he tried to shoot the head off...