Imported from South America these 20 pound rodents have few natural predators in North America. Gators will eat them gladly but they have failed to find their way onto popular restaurant menus. They burrow into the ground destroying vegetation and making a swiss cheese out of levees, dikes and dams. One story is that they were orignally imported by the McIllhenny family (Tabasco) to Avery Island where they escaped from captivity in a hurricane.

Know worldwide as the Coypu, nutrias are established in fifteen southern states including Louisiana. They have been spotted as far north as Seattle.

The New Orleans Public Library website has adopted nutrias as its URI for its main portal. See
www.nuturias.org