Big alien rodents return

John Roach

But boom in trappers keeping wetland-eating, beaver-size nutria in check

Five years after Hurricane Katrina whacked down the population of the invasive, wetland-munching rodents in Louisiana, nutria have bounced back.

At the same time, some coastal marshes are rebounding too, because of a boom in Louisiana’s nutria trappers.

The 2005 to 2006 trapping season, which runs from November 20 to March 31, yielded 168,843 nutria tails. The 2009 to 2010 season, by contrast, set a record: 445,963 nutria tails, according to state figures. Trappers hunt the rodents for money and discard their carcasses.

“The amount of animals harvested this past year is a result of economics in the area,” Nutria Control Program with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in New Iberia head Edmond Mouton said.

The impact of the hurricane - which killed many nutria outright - was short-lived, Mouton added.

“They established several populations elsewhere, and some of the populations that were decimated … slowly became re-established,” Mouton said. “It is a fairly resilient species and able to handle such catastrophes.”

Eroding gulf coasts losing storm barriers Coastal wetlands protect inland areas from intense damage by storm surges.

Yet due largely to oil-and-gas development, Louisiana has the highest rate of human-induced coastal erosion in the US, according to the Texas-based Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies.

National Geographic News