Monday, May 21, 2007

Nutria-System

From the Baltimore Sun comes news of an ambitious project to rid the Chesapeake of the invasive semi-aquatic rodent known as the nutria (Myocastor coypus). State and federal officials, buoyed by the successful eradication of nutria within Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, are slowly but surely hunting and trapping the nutria of Maryland's marshlands out of existence. Biologists are predicting the job could be done but for the monitoring within the next seven years. With a cost of about a million dollars a year, I'm sure government officials are happy to hear that there is an end in sight.

4 comments:

fuzzyturtle said...

I hear all the fashionistas with nutria coats sobbing. (they're a little cheaper than mink)

*okay I know they're farmed.. it just makes me scratch my head that they're invasive rodents and ever so expensive to put on your back*

Jennifer Forman Orth said...

You are not thinking about this the right [capitalistic] way fuzzy - think "eco fur" :-)

budak said...

forget nutrias... it's Gambian rats that are coming!!
http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USN2430572020070525

Jennifer Forman Orth said...

Yes, yes, now go read more about that here :).