Looks like a tasty snack!

I, for one, welcome our Nutria overlords

Apparently the little buggers are delicious vis a vis: http://www.nutria.com/site14.php

I'm not sure I really want to know exactly what a "hind saddle portion" is from a nutria. And "Enola's Smothered Nutria" is pretty scary too.

Some facts from that site:

Ragondin (Nutria) Meat Quick Facts

WHAT IS IT?
It is a very lean red meat from the nutria, a fur bearing herbivore native to South America that was first introduced into the wild of Louisiana in the late 1930s, when animals were intentionally and/or accidentally released from fur farms.

WHAT IS IT LIKE?
Nutria meat is very similar to rabbit meat and tastes like dark turkey meat.

IS IT WHOLESOME TO EAT?
Yes. Nutria harvested for meat are cared for differently than those harvested for pelts only. Nutria for human consumption are still harvested primarily for the pelt, but must be stored and processed under guidelines for other food grade meat. Only nutria processed at a state inspected facility can be sold for human consumption.

[OlyBlog fundraising idea: Caiman & Nutria cookbook]

Has anyone actually seen a nutria in Capitol Lake? I walk around the lake all the time, and lately I've been keeping my eyes peeled for those furry little critters, and I've seen nothing! Nada! I've seen exactly as many swamp rats as I have Capitol Lake Monsters. Do they really exist?

I've actually seen a nutria swimming about in Capitol Lake just a couple of months ago. No optical illusion, one genuine nutria swimming around as happy as a clam, well, as happy as a nutria. It was on the Deschutes Parkway side of the lake around dusk, but not quite dusk.

Police Search for Caiman in Austrian Lake

Thu May 11, 6:06 PM ET

VILLACH, Austria - "No swimming" signs went up Thursday at an Austrian lake after locals reported that it was harboring a crocodile-like creature in the waters.

A daylong search of the Silbersee — a lake near Austria's westernmost city of Villach — turned up nothing suspicious despite recent reported sightings of what experts believe is a caiman, an American crocodile. But police declared the lake and its beach off limits to visitors.

Several locals said the creature was nearly 5 feet long. Experts speculated it was set free by someone aghast at how large his pet had grown.

State-run Austrian broadcaster ORF reported on its Web site that the search would resume Friday.

Here's a link to a heartwarming photo of a mother caiman chomping on a skinned nutria, while the little caimans take notes:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/NATSCI/HERPETOLOGY/brittoncrocs/potm-aug01.html

This from the Crocodile Specialist Group Newsletter #162C. I think there's a lesson in this story for all of us:

Ecuador
BLACK CAIMAN ATTACK. There has been considerable commentary concerning crocodilian nest and hatchling defense display and the extent that crocodilians carry out aggressive behavior. It is generally agreed that the range of such behavior varies greatly among individuals within a species and that attendant females of some species are more aggressive than others. This report records an expedition led by Pablo Evans to collect Melanosuchus niger hatchlings at Imuya Lagoon (Lagartococha) in the Rio Napo region of eastern Ecuador and an attack by an attendant female.

The expedition consisted of two nights collecting at Imuya during 26-27 February 1997. Evans and his crew were catching hatchlings by hand, grabbing them from a 7 m long canoe powered by a 'Go Devil' outboard motor. This is an area where motors are almost never used. On the first night (the 26th) they found a pod of hatchlings and collected about four of them when a 'large' animal, which they assumed was the attendant female, appeared puffing up and hissing. When approached by the canoe she backed into the vegetation and disappeared. The crew continued to collect several more hatchlings before moving on.

The following night they returned with four people in the canoe (Pablo in front) to the same spot. Since the evening had not become completely dark, they moved on but returned about 9 p.m. and spent nearly an hour picking up ten more hatchlings which were placed in an open cooler. The hatchlings in the cooler vocalized continuously (probably emitting a hatchling distress call). Another hatchling was sighted and captured by a person sitting behind Pablo. As Pablo stood with bent knees and partially turned to observe the capture, an adult caiman came out of the water to a height of approximately one meter directly behind him. She grabbed part of the raincoat he was wearing and his left buttock and snatched him backwards directly out of the canoe. The others in the canoe all witnessed the attack. Pablo was pulled underwater about 6 feet by his estimation before being released. When he surfaced he was about 4 m from the canoe. According to the other three observers, as Pablo made a mad swim for the canoe, the caiman surfaced behind him facing away from the canoe. As she turned, her tail pushed Pablo toward the canoe and underwater. When he resurfaced she was about one meter to his right. One of Pablo's companions in the canoe struck the caiman a sound blow to the head with a small paddle. She submerged as Pablo scrambled back into the canoe and they saw her no more.

Other than being justifiably unnerved, Pablo received one puncture wound and some broken skin accompanied by a large bruise in the shape of a caiman's lower jaw on his left buttock. Fortunately one member of the expedition was a certified nurse who cleaned the wounds and administered oral antibiotics and no infection occurred. — As told by Pablo Evans to Phil Wilkinson, Meeting Street, Georgetown, SC, USA. [We attempted to obtain documentary photographs of this important observation during the Villahermosa Regional Meeting, but despite the application (internal) of large quantities of rum drinks, Pablo declined to show us his scar! — Eds.]