An invasion of dangerous three-foot-long rat-like creatures with orange teeth is wreaking havoc across California, threatening the safety of residents and the state’s economy.
Nearly 1,000 nutria – one of the largest rodent species – have already been hunted in the Bay Area this year.
But the creatures have now made their way to Contra Costa County’s California Delta, one of the state’s most crucial water sources and ecological sites. San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The animals, also known as Coypu, weigh about 20 kilos, pose a threat to people, livestock and pets and cause widespread destruction in wetlands.
They are known to carry tapeworms and are hosts to potentially fatal diseases such as tuberculosis and blood poisoning. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, they are also carriers of blood and liver flukes that can lead to infection through exposure to contaminated water.
Nutria, also known as coypu, is an invasive rodent species that can weigh up to 20 pounds and grow to 6.5 meters in length
Nutria have now made their way to Contra Costa County’s California Delta, one of the state’s most crucial water sources and ecological locations. Pictured: Blackhawk Plaza in Danville
Nutria resemble beavers, with the distinction of strongly arched backs and “long, thin, rounded, sparsely furred tails rather than broad, flat tails like those of a beaver,” according to the CFWD.
The rodents are usually found near permanent water sources and have large bright orange teeth and a white snout and whiskers.
Since the first nutria, a pregnant female, was discovered in California on a private wetland in March 2017, 5,042 of the species have been killed in the state.
Officials are urging locals to ‘immediately’ report and photograph sightings or possible signs of their presence to their national wildlife department.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Peter Tira said SFGate: ‘We cannot allow nutria to reproduce in the delta. The threat to California’s economy is too great.”
The spread is particularly alarming because of the animal’s prolific reproduction, with females producing as many as 27 offspring per year.
They also breed year-round, producing two to three litters with two to nine young per litter.
Moreover, there is no natural predator that keeps the population in check.
In some states, including California, the rodents are listed on the prohibited species list, which prohibits their importation, possession, exchange, purchase, sale and transportation.
It is legal to shoot the animal outside city limits, or wildlife officers can kill the animal using humane euthanasia.
Tides push salt water from the Pacific Ocean into the Delta, and fresh water flows into the Delta from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and then through the levee channels into San Pablo Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean
The California Delta routes water throughout the state for agricultural use and human consumption
The highly destructive species is known to cause significant crop losses and weaken dikes as a result of its digging.
Their effect on ecosystems also threatens rare and endangered species and plants that depend on the wetland.
Each nutria can consume up to 25 percent of its body weight per day. But Krysten Kellum of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said they “waste and destroy up to ten times as much,” according to SFGate.
The CFWD added, “Nutria don’t build burrows, they burrow, often breaching water retention or flood levees, weakening structural foundations and eroding banks,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The California Delta, where the nutria are now beginning to inhabit, helps channel water to cities and farms across the state, making it easier for rodents to spread to even more regions.
Tides push salt water from the Pacific Ocean into the Delta, and fresh water flows into the Delta from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and then through the levee channels to San Pablo Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean.
The United States Geological Survey said that, if necessary, water from the Sacramento River will be diverted and pumped through levee canals toward the California Aqueduct and the Delta-Mendota Canal.
This water is ultimately consumed by humans and used for agricultural purposes in Central and Southern California.
Since the rodent’s aquatic invasion, the California Department of Water Resources has issued a dire – and equally hilarious – warning about the nutria.
Portraying the creature as a “two-faced creature” straight out of a horror movie, the DWS created a movie-like poster that stated that while the animal was “so cute,” the rodent was a “monster.”
‘Behind the outside of the medicine lies a monster. Beware of the dark side of nutria. They may look harmless, but they are invasive rodents that can destroy wetlands and damage dikes,” the DWS wrote.
The State of California asks all residents to report and photograph any sightings or signs of Nutria
Each Nutria can consume up to 25 percent of its body weight per day, said Kellum of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The rodents are usually found near permanent water sources and have large bright orange teeth to distinguish them from beavers, as well as a white snout and white whiskers.
Their high population growth rate is due to the fact that they breed year-round, producing two to three litters each with two to nine young per nest, as well as the lack of a natural predator.
Nutria is also causing problems outside of California, with reports of problems in Oregon.
In fact, wild populations have now established themselves in 17 states, including Louisiana, Washington, Oregon and California.