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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHurricane Isaac left the Gulf Coast ankle-deep in dead swamp rats
http://grist.org/list/hurricane-isaac-left-the-gulf-coast-ankle-deep-in-dead-swamp-rats/
Hurricane Isaac left the Gulf Coast ankle-deep in dead swamp rats
By Sarah Laskow
Fur farmers brought nutria, the South American rodent, into the United States more than a century ago in order to raise the little buggers and harvest their coats. Like anyone destined to become a fur coat would do, many of them escaped into the wilds of the New World and spread far and wide. Now there are droves of them across the country, including along the Gulf Coast, where they escaped from Louisiana fur farms and went feral in the 1930s. And unlike some invasive species, eating them wont clear them out; Louisiana tried to encourage it in the 90s, but everyone found the concept way too gross.
Nutria are still all over the Gulf Coast today. But there are at least 5,000 fewer of them than there were before Hurricane Isaac.
Thousands of dead nutria
washed ashore on beaches during Hurricane Isaac. The dead swamp rats have started to stink and officials say that could cause a health and environmental hazard to people
.
Officials with the Department of Environmental Quality say so far theyve counted more than 5,000 dead nutria rats on Hancock County beaches, but they say that number could top 10,000 before they all finish washing ashore.
Officials with the Department of Environmental Quality say so far theyve counted more than 5,000 dead nutria rats on Hancock County beaches, but they say that number could top 10,000 before they all finish washing ashore.
There is a sort of divine justice at work here. Nutria are terrible for wetlands: they scurry around and eat up entire swaths of plants, lessening the protection against hurricanes that these ecosystems offer. Nutria destroy wetlands, hurricanes destroy nutria its like the circle of life, but with more damp rodents.
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Hurricane Isaac left the Gulf Coast ankle-deep in dead swamp rats (Original Post)
marmar
Sep 2012
OP
me loves me some rabbit. surprised there wasnt a lot of beach combing going on
loli phabay
Sep 2012
#3
loli phabay
(5,580 posts)1. shame lots of food going to waste if no one got there quick enough.
Never ate nutria but have read their not bad eating.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)2. They are tasty.
Think rabbit, but more meat.
loli phabay
(5,580 posts)3. me loves me some rabbit. surprised there wasnt a lot of beach combing going on
If i was there i would have a freezer full. Smokehouse full and jerky on the go.
jody
(26,624 posts)5. Buzzards like them. nt
n2doc
(47,953 posts)4. Poor Swamp Rat
I do miss that poster. Had some great graphics skills.
appleannie1
(5,067 posts)6. They would bloat before they washed ashore, way passed the edible stage.