Nutria friend or foe?

The Nutria has went from fur trading boom to swap grass eating doom.  The origins of this oversize rat making it to the shores of the Southeastern United States has been debated.  It's been said they were brought here in the 1930's by naturalist and hot-sauce magnate E.A Mcllhenny.  Mcllhenny planned to raise Nutria in large pens for the fur trade.  The legend has it that a hurricane swept through South Louisiana and the pens were destroyed and the rest is history.  Our climate here in this region is not much different from the fertile grounds of South America where the Nutria are native. This has ensured that the Nutria population has increased at staggering rates.  Some states have introduced a bounty on Nutria but the population keeps growing.  On a hog hunting trip to the Alabama delta this spring we noticed large strips of marsh land that had been completely cleared by the Nutria. So if any of you industrial minded individuals are looking for a turn of the century trade, I hear that Nutria handbags used to be the rage. 

This is a photo of a Nutria we killed while hog hunting.
Notice the grass laying at the bottom of the picture.  This Nutria family had cleared an entire island of reeds and grass.

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