A Bit about Nutria
(Myocaster coypus)
Nutria History

A recent news story about an Oregon man who shot a snorkler he'd mistaken for a nutria sounded like a line from an old Tom Lehrer song, "I just sit there looking cute and when something moves I shoot."

Unlike the song's character who merely lost his permit. however. the real-life shooter got a jail sentence. Luckily, his injured victim survived. Because many people have never encountered a nutria, we asked N.C. wildlife rehabilitator Marti Brinson what they are like. Although Brinson says some people claim nutria are very aggressive, she has been raising a young one who is friendly and affectionate. She says some Southern families enjoy feeding wild nutria, including ones with babies. Perhaps the differing views depend partly upon the way people treat these animals.

Last January a local man was canoeing with his two kids, hoping to show them a beaver. Instead they saw a tiny animal crying on a dam. When the furry creature came close, the fellow used his canoe paddle to put the little one back on the dam. Eventually, however, he decided to rescue the crying infant and find a wildlife rehabilitator.

The rehabber was uncertain about the small orphan's species, when she took him to Marti Brinson, who said, "You have a baby nutria." But Brinson, who'd seen her first nutria in 1999, was not 100% certain of this one's identity either. "You'd better not be a river rat," she said to the baby with the pencil- like tail before taking him to the vet for a checkup. Muskrat tails are similar, but are slightly flattened vertically, whereas nutria tails are more cylindrical.

The nutria baby weighed only 6 ounces when Marti took over his care, but now, six months later, is about ten pounds thanks to a diet of certain branches and fresh produce, including com on the cob, collards and red ice potatoes.
Just like beavers, nutria are quite talkative. The rehabber says, her charge often makes a humming noise, and responds to being rubbed under his front legs by holding a leg up, closing his eyes and grunting contentedly, "like a bullfrog."

Unlike beavers, the nutria does not defecate in water, Brinson ,says, but instead always uses the same corner of his cage. Nutria have whitish fur around their mouth and nose, and long, brownish fur on their bodies that makes them appear huger than they are. But nutria fur is not as dense as beaver fur and these smaller animals are native to warmer zones. In addition, wild nutria live in bank burrows, instead of lodges.