Posted on 07/06/2005 6:31:30 AM PDT by djf
SKAGIT COUNTY - A rodent that can decimate crop land has just been discovered in Skagit County -- an area with an economy that depends on agriculture.
It's called nutria and it is native to South America.
They look like a beaver, but they are much more dangerous.
The nutria is a rodent that lives in the water and feeds on the land. It stops nothing short of eating every kind of crop, plant, marsh or forest.
Bottom line: they are an enemy to the environment and a nightmare to farmers.
"They eat everything. They are hungry, they breed like gang busters and they eat everything!" said farmer Brian Olson.
The nutria can breed five litters a year, with up to 12 young per litter. Their multiplying numbers can destroy farmland land quickly. They can also flood farmland because they burrow holes into dikes as dens.
Link to full article:
http://www.komotv.com/news/mnewsaction.asp?ID=37462
Paging Jimmy Carter....
If you ever watch the show on the comedy network with the comedian who stays up all night (I forget the title) there is an episode in N.O. where he rides around with the N.O. police shooting these things as a nuisance. They apparently are a real menace.
G-Men are known for their fecundity?
Import anacondas..a bio-friendly, environmentally-safe means of nutria control...
Don't they eat those things in Louisiana?
Heart Healthy 'Crock-Pot' Nutria
2 hind saddle portions of nutria meat
1 small onion, sliced thin
1 tomato, cut into big wedges
2 potatoes, sliced thin
2 carrots, sliced thin
8 Brussels sprouts
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup water
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup demi-glace (optional)
Layer onion, tomato, potatoes, carrots and Brussels sprouts in crockpot. Season nutria with salt, pepper and garlic, and place nutria over vegetables. Add wine and water, set crockpot on low and let cook until meat is tender (approximately 1-1/2 hours). Garnish with vegetables and demi-glace. Makes four servings.
IIRC, their fur is valuable for hats and coats; like all aquatic furs, it is durable.
Not to worry. Government farm subsidies will take care of things.
The show is Insomniac, and the guy is Dave Atell. My son watches it some.
From what I heard, they are actually extraordinarily tasty.
Unlike the other rodents in Seattle...
I think we have just solved the hunger problem in Africa.
My husband might have seen one of these on our property in Whatcom County. He saw some kind of rodent that he couldn't identify.
Did PETA/ELF liberate the nutria from a fur farm?
I've heard they taste good.
Given the average Seatle-ite's gun control views I'd say these critters are here to stay.
'...I've heard they taste good...."
Like chicken. Everything tastes like chicken.
Chicken: The universal comparitor
Insomniac with Dave Attel. The show is no longer produced. One of my comedic favorites.
The episode that you mention was great. Dave was riding with New Orleans SWAT snipers, who shoot Nutria to keep their skills sharp. The episode ended with Dave looking into the camera and stating, "Many animals were harmed in the filming of this episode."
You mean Nutria are liberals?
Dear NCC-1701,
Frogs' legs taste sorta like chicken.
sitetest
Indeed they do. Just on the light side.
Dems are having a voter reg drive for nutria. New constituency. The 'big tent'. The nutria, too smart to be fooled, are saying "no thanks".
More rats for a DemocRAT city. I like Seattle, one of the best cities in the USA. Too bad its politics suck.
They look like a badger.
I have a friend that got a nutria coat from Neiman's many years ago. They should catch those little suckers, skin them and sell the pelts. A win/win situation, expcept for the nutria, of course.
IPSWITCH: Ms. Benes, the hat you charged to the company was Sable, this is Neutria.
ELAINE: Well, that's a kind of sable.
IPSWITCH: No, its a kind of rat.
ELAINE: That's a rat hat?
IPSWITCH: And a poorly made one, even by rat hat standards.
I read about this a few years back in the Times Picayune, print edition. The New Orleans pd sends out two officers with silenced .22 rifles at night to shoot these pests.
Unfortunately the rats got wise and know enough to take cover when the rat patrol shows up.
How the hell did they get all the way up there?
"Badger? We don't need no steenkin badgers!"
ROTFL!
Illegal immigrants. Musta came through Canada.
Like these?
Inna' backuva pickemup truck.
If it walks, crawls or slithers a coon a$$ will figure out a way to make it edible.......
If you have space, organize Varmint Hunting tours.
You'll clean up.
I know guys who pay good money to go to the Dakotas and shoot prairie dogs at five hundred yards.
*sigh* not in MI yet, nothing new for me to hunt.
how come we never get anything fun to control out here?
"dangerous?"
Dangerous implies they are scary and will hurt you.
This reporter needs to go back to school.
They aren't dangerous at all. They are DESTRUCTIVE and annoying, but not dangerous.
Sounds like the description of a DemocRAT.
You better obliterate the nasty little critters. They wreak so much havoc to the local ecology. Also for all the PETA folks, just tell them to shut up. Nutra RATS are vermin.
It's only fifteen acres, but it's loaded with wild life, deer, beaver and even a black bear has been sighted.
It is in keeping with FR guidelines that we use the original title.
But I agree, they're not nearly as dangerous as the other rodents around here...
I think that this babe tried to pick me up one Saturday night at the University of Wisconsin!
They'll never kill them in Washington, home of the child-attacking-geese.
I bought a rat hat?
They are tasty if properly prepared and they have excellent pelts. This really shouldn't be a problem.
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