Welcome, Nutria

The South American nutria, a furry, aquatic, testy little wild animal, is a new U.S. resident. In the current issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management, Frank G. Ashbrook of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces that nutrias have recently appeared in many parts of the U.S. --from Louisiana to Michigan and Oregon. They seem to be increasing and spreading rapidly.

A native of Argentina and nearby countries, the nutria is a rodent that looks rather like an uncivilized (no dams) beaver. The male weighs about 25 pounds. The female is smaller, and wears her breasts on the side of her back; she can refuel her young, like a navy tanker, while swimming on the surface. Both sexes have four large, orange-red teeth which can sever a human finger in a single snap. If you insist on playing with a nutria, Wildlifer Ashbrook advises, pick him up by the tail and hold him at arm's length.

Nutrias behave rather like muskrats. A pair sets up house by digging a burrow into a stream bank, or building a house of reeds. The female starts breeding at about one year old and produces two or three litters a year. Because the young ones generally live with their parents for some time, the original home soon becomes a teeming colony full of descendants and in-laws.

Nutrias were once (about 1922) all but exterminated in their wild state, and South Americans tried to raise them. The animals multiplied all right, but their pelts in captivity proved almost worthless. U.S. nutria breeders had the same experience. In 1939, 50 pairs were released in Iberia Parish, La. (All they need for food is coarse marsh vegetation.) Next year one was found 65 miles away by water. By now, thriving in the wild, they have reached the delta of the Mississippi and crossed the state line into Texas. During the 1946-47 trapping season, the state of Louisiana collected taxes on 18,015 skins.

In the fur market nutria ranks somewhere between muskrat and mink--$1,400 to $1,700 for a full-length coat. But so far, domestic pelts have not been too successful. U.S. trappers do not know much about preparing them. The Wildlife Service hopes that the quality will improve as trappers get nutria-wise. In any event, the nutria will be a welcome immigrant. Unlike many furbearers, most of which (e.g., skunks) are carnivorous, its flesh is pink and good to eat. A carcass prepared for cooking weighs about eight pounds. Some compare it to rabbit. When roasted, say other connoisseurs, it is like suckling pig.

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