Biota of Lakes and Reservoirs - Hydro-Environmental Analysis: Freshwater Environments - page 445

Myocastor coypus
Map created on 11/8/2011. United States Geological Survey
FIGURE 15.35 Nutria distributions in the United States. (From USGS; Fuller, P., Nico, L., Maynard, E.,
Larson, J., and Fusaro, A., USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL, 2012, Available
at http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID = 836 Revision Date: 12/22/2011.)
They are a pest species in many areas, destroying the native aquatic vegetation and crops, and by
burrowing into stream banks and dams.
Some of the wild nutria populations resulted from their escape from fur farms. However, in some
areas, such as in Louisiana, nutria were released by state and federal agencies to provide a new fur
resource and to control problems from other invasive species, such as the water hyacinth and the
alligator weed. In Louisiana, by the late 1950s, there were an estimated 20 million nutrias in coastal
areas, and the Louisiana legislature passed legislation providing a $0.25 bounty in 16 parishes
(counties) for every nutria killed.
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