Nutria: It's not just for Louisiana anymore

HOUMA — Residents might associate the nutria with things that make south Louisiana unique, but the swamp rat is really is a world-class pest.

Louisiana’s coastal wetlands sustain the most damage from the voracious animal, and the state has pioneered efforts aimed at controlling the rodent’s population. But other states are starting to catch up.

Enter the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2009, introduced by U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, and Frank Kratovil, D-Md. The bill would authorize the U.S. secretary of the interior to provide money to Maryland, Louisiana, Delaware, Oregon, Virginia and Washington to eradicate or control nutria and restore damaged wetlands.

The bill is a renewal of the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003, which, along with the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act, authorized Louisiana’s nutria-control program.

“Nutria remain a problem and continue to erode our coastline in Louisiana,” Boustany said. “As we work to rebuild our coast, eliminating the nutria population is one significant step toward our goal of comprehensive coastal restoration.”

Originally imported from South America to be farmed for fur, the nutria, an oversized water-loving rodent typified by its unmistakable orange buck teeth, quickly escaped into the wild and began wreaking havoc on wetlands across the country, said Edmond Mouton, a biologist with the state’s nutria-control program.

In the U.S., the marsh-munching rodent has expanded its unwelcome range from the rainy woodlands of Washington state all the way up to the Chesapeake Bay. The animals reproduce quickly, crowding out competitive species. Left unchecked, they can burrow into riverbanks, destabilize the foundations of homes and eat the roots of wetland grasses, causing them to die.

In the Chesapeake Bay region, studies show the rodents could destroy more than 35,000 acres of Maryland’s bay marshes in the next 50 years, with losses to the economy exceeding $35 million per year, Kratovil said in a news release.

“Nutria devastate wild vegetation, damage wetlands and destroy crops in regions like Maryland’s Eastern Shore,” he said. “They harm agricultural and tourism industries while the parasites and diseases they carry threaten our health and safety.”

The rodents are causing the most-substantial marsh loss in Maryland, Louisiana, Delaware, Oregon, Virginia and Washington.

In Louisiana, a control program has been in place since 2001 that offers a $5 bounty to hunters who kill and turn in the tail of a nutria. The program has proven successful, state officials say, reducing wetlands damaged from 80,000 acres to 23,141 acres.

During the 2008-09 season, hunters turned in 334,038 nutria tails worth $1.6 million in payouts. In Terrebonne, 74,587 nutria were killed; 48,252 nutria were eliminated in Lafourche Parish — the top parishes in the state.

In Maryland, Jonathan McKnight with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said a hunt is under way aimed at completely wiping nutria populations in one targeted marsh. Wildlife officials will trap and kill up to 12,000 nutria at a time. Their control program has been in place for 5 years.

“It’s not nearly as bad as Louisiana, but the nutria have caused quite a lot of damage to some important marshes, especially in the Chesapeake Bay. Our goal is elimination,” McKnight said. “The only nutria that matters to us is the last nutria.”

The agency doesn’t want to create an incentive for the nutria population to continue to exist, such as a bounty, McKnight said. Also, state laws prohibit bounties for animal hunts. But McKnight said that Maryland has learned a lot from Louisiana’s control efforts, and so can other states.

Maryland’s problem is not as massive as Louisiana’s, which makes elimination a more-realistic goal, Mouton said. In areas along the East Coast, populations are spreading, but the cold, frozen winters help keep the South American rodent in check.

And with decades of established population in states on both coasts, the nutria might be sticking around for awhile, despite the latest federal bill that could give four new states money for their demise.

“It just goes to show you what happens when you introduce a very adaptable animal into an environment where it doesn’t belong,” McKnight said.

Staff Writer Nikki Buskey can be reached at 857-2205 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.