Free Republic

As Italy struggles to deal with burgeoning populations of an introduced giant rodent, a mayor has come up with a novel solution – eat them. Coypu were introduced to Italy a century ago from their native South America to be farmed for their fur. But many escaped or were deliberately released after wearing fur fell out of fashion and the species is now thriving. They have fared particularly well in the flatlands of the Po valley in northern Italy, where farmers complain that they devour crops and destroy levees and embankments by digging burrows. Michele Marchi, the mayor of the...

A giant 20-pound rodent with the ability to destroy roads, levees and wetlands has been discovered in Stanislaus County. A giant invasive rodent with the ability to destroy roads, levees and wetlands has been discovered in Stanislaus County.

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...