Nutrias have been in North America for over 70 years and are now considered one of the most ecologically destructive invasive species on the planet. Nutria are about the same size as a raccoon weighting up to 10 kilograms and they look like a cross between a small beaver and a Norway rat. They also carry several diseases and parasites including tuberculosis, tapeworm, liver flukes and nematodes. They are aquatic animals that prefer freshwater and they live in burrows connected by tunnels that they dig in wetlands. Eighty percent of nutria don’t survive their first year, and those that do survive, only live for three years. Nutria eat about a quarter of their body weight daily in plants and their roots, wreaking havoc on the native ecosystem by removing the root systems destabilizes the soil around the water, which causes it to quickly erode and become open water.
gogreenpestcontrol.ca insectandrodentexterminators.com Delta Ladner Tsawwassen B.C., Randy Bilesky BsF CPA RPF
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/nutria-the-invasive-swamp-rat-randy-bilesky/?published=t
About the author