Thousands of Dead Swamp Rats washing up on MS beaches

good horrible fuckers ...

I did not know what a swamp rat was until I saw this video.

Swamp rats



[link to youtu.be]

I was just checking that out. Looks like the trouble makers have a bounty on their heads. I wonder how many swamp rats it takes to make a coat? LOL

The nutria (a semi-aquatic rodent native to temperate South America) was introduced into North America in the hopes of bolstering the fur industry, but the quality of the pelt proved to be poor. Feral populations are the result of numerous accidental and intentional introductions. Foraging nutria have significantly impacted many wetland plant communities, reducing biodiversity, and altering marsh habitats. Their burrowing activity has resulted in damage to a variety of manmade structures.

[link to el.erdc.usace.army.mil]

Once again...another project gone bad!

Nutria can be infected with several pathogens and parasites that can be transmitted to humans, livestock, and pets. The role of nutria, however, in the spread of diseases such as **equine encephalomyelitis,**leptospirosis, hemorrhagic septicemia (Pasteurellosis), paratyphoid, and salmonellosis is not well documented. They may also host a number of parasites, including the nematodes and blood flukes that cause "Nutria itch" or "Swimmer's itch" (Strongyloides myopotami and Schistosoma mansoni), the protozoan responsible for giardiasis (Giardia lamblia), tapeworms (Taenia spp.), and common liver flukes (Fasciola hepatica). The threat of disease may be an important consideration in some situations, such as when livestock drink from water contaminated by nutria feces and urine.

[link to icwdm.org]

** Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that like West Nile?

um...these critters can swim.
they don't drown.
wtf did this storm kick up in the water
to kill off thousands at once?

the fish will be next.

Nutria itch? Other common names for this scourge of the marsh are more descriptive. “Creeping eruption” reflects the snakelike lines of irritation caused by immature parasitic larvae crawling beneath the skin. “Marsh itch” reflects the parasite’s environmental niche and attests to its most common symptom, the itch that can cause the sufferer to become nearly psychotic from lack of sleep.

[link to www.myneworleans.com]

Yuck!!!

Correct...did you see how swollen they are laying all over the beach. What's up with that?

I guess they can drown if you hold them under water long enough..

Live cage traps: Place the cage traps on land or on a raft floating in the water. Destroy the nutria by drowning or shooting them while the nutria are in the trap or relocate the nutria far far away.

Pesticides: There are no approved pesticides for nutria pest control.

Poison: There are no approved poisons that kill nutria.

[link to www.pestcontrolrx.com]

I cant believe that the rats did not seek higher ground when the storm came in. Rats are always the first one off a sinking ship.

The nutria now washing ashore probably drowned in the Louisiana marshes from Hurricane Isaac's storm surge, and the tide is bringing them into the Mississippi Sound, he said.

"You can see them floating in."

The dead rodents are a health hazard, especially in the heat.

"They can blow up like a basketball and explode," he said.

He urged people to stay off the beaches, which are closed indefinitely from Lakeshore Drive east of Silver Slipper Casino through Bay St. Louis, because of the safety and health risks.

"We don't know what's still alive under all that grass," he said.

Read more here: [link to www.sunherald.com]

I love the smell of plague in the morning. Smells like victory.

Are they what we call muskrats around my area?

Last Edited by Blue Skies on 09/02/2012 02:14 PM

Having been to Mississippi, I can't think of a better place for them to end up.