Nutria in georgia. Georgia has attempted control of small or medium sized nutria populations through shooting and trapping. These mammals are native to south america and were introduced into the united states. Several states including texas georgia and maryland have already begun attempts at decreasing or eradicating this animal.
Links with information about the nutria myocastor coypus. Inn a stream bank or levee it will dig a burrow up to 12 m 4 ft long with an entrance at each end. State and federal agencies as well as individuals relocated nutria in the 1940s to alabama arkansas georgia kentucky maryland mississippi oklahoma louisiana and texas to control vegetation.
To protect the valuable resources of marylands chesapeake bay the chesapeake bay nutria eradication project cbnep began in 2002 to permanently remove invasive nutria from the marshes of the delmarva peninsula and to protect enhance and restore the aquatic. It also builds beds beneath overhanging or collapsed marsh vegetation as places to rest feed or give birth to young. Marylands eastern shore has seen thousands of acres of protective marshland impacted by the nutrias destructive feeding habits.
Georgia wildlife links general. Nutria also known as coypu or swamp rats are large rodents that live in areas with lots of freshwater. Bertolino 2005 at least one county in texas has spent hundreds of dollars trying to eradicate this.
When the nutria fur trade collapsed in the united states in the early 1940s business owners simply let the animals go free. The nutria can often be seen moving about in the daytime but it is most active at night. The effect of nutria on marsh loss in the lower eastern shore of maryland usgs usgs factsheet south american nutria destroy marshes pdf nutria gulf of mexico program nutria louisiana department of wildlife and fisheries myocastor coypus global invasive species database nutria in north america usgs national wetlands research center.
General information georgia museum of natural history photo and narrative description mammals of texas online external resources.