For alga

James Jordan · 13 Dec 2002, 15:45 · from urth-v0212.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at cox.net>
Subject: (urth) For alga
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 09:45:22 -0600
Message-ID: <urth-v0212-2415 at digest.urth.net>
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Today Florida and Louisiana, tomorrow New York. Beware, alga!

Giant rats roam Florida
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Like something escaped from a mad scientist's=20
laboratory, the monstrous rodents creep through the underbrush.
Don't worry, these critters just want some salad.
These rats -- as big as the family dog and weighing more than a=20
Thanksgiving turkey -- are nutria, roaming eastern Hillsborough County as=20
the result of commercialism gone to seed.
"I saw this humongous rat on the road," said JoAnn Hoffmann, who=20
encountered a nutria while driving to work. "My jaw just dropped."
The nutria are the remnants of a get-rich-quick scheme some 40 years ago,=20
said Bill Kern, urban wildlife specialist with the Florida Cooperative=20
Extension Service.
Entrepreneurs imported nutria -- an extremely large South American aquatic=20
rat -- to start a fur trade in Florida. But people didn't want to walk=20
around in coats or mittens made of the hide or fur of 3-foot-long rats with=20
naked, scaly tails.
"The prices dropped so low, nobody bothered to trap them," Kern said in=20
Monday's editions of the Tampa Tribune.
The nutria found homes along lakes, drainage ditches and ponds at dairy=20
farms. Exclusively vegetarian, they dine on aquatic plants.
The nutria are not considered game animals, so it's always open season on=20
them. Just don't expect to get rich as a trapper: A nutria pelt might fetch=20
$4, Kern said.

Nutria tail now worth $4
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
By Dan Majors, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Today's installment of "Animals Gone Wild" involves the nutria, a ravenous=20
rodent that is currently consuming the Louisiana coast.
Nutria may sound like some kind of new diet or face cream, but it isn't.=20
It's a big old 10-pound water-dwelling rat-like-lookin' thing from South=20
America. (Don't let the name fool you. Think muskrat.)
They were brought to this country in the 1930s, before the words=20
"ecological balance" were coined. Back then, folks were still focused on=20
the words "fur trade."
In 1937, 13 of the critters escaped from a colony owned by Tabasco founder=20
L.E. McIlhenny, who figured they'd amount to gator bait out there in the=20
bayou.
But McIlhenny underestimated the nutria. They thrived in Louisiana's marsh=20
grasses. And they proved to be very prolific.
Besides being born eaters, nutria can reproduce when they are four to six=20
months old. Meaning a nutria born on Thanksgiving can be a grandma nutria=20
by Halloween.
Sure enough, they're raging in Cajun country, overrunning the Gulf of=20
Mexico wetlands. Ravaging the rice and shredding the sugarcane.
And as they devour the plants, the soil is washing away. At a rate of 35=20
square miles a year.
In the meantime, demand for nutria fur is pretty much nonexistent.
People have tried to come up with other uses for nutria. The state even=20
tried to develop a market for its meat. Its taste, like its reproductive=20
abilities, has been compared to rabbit.
But it hasn't caught on. No matter how many sauces and spices you throw at=20
it, people just don't pick "rodent gumbo" off the menu. Even when it's=20
today's special.
Still, something has to be done. So, starting today, the state of Louisiana=20
is offering a $4-a-tail bounty -- officials prefer the term "incentive" --=20
in hopes of wiping out 400,000 nuisance nutria this winter. (Tails must be=20
turned in frozen or salted.)
Just another of the ways that government puts tax dollars to work for a=20
better world.

--=20

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