Nutria and the Seattle Waterfront

Nutria are non-native animals to the Seattle area, and they have quickly gotten a bad reputation as having a negative impact on the waterfront real estate and natural environmental habitats of our lake and river communities. They were imported from other countries decades ago, and have recently resurfaced in our area without any natural predators.

You can recognize Nutria a few ways - if they're swimming, their long round tail will be up out of the water (muskrats and beavers swim with their flattened tails). The muzzles of the nutria have white hair and white whiskers, unlike the other water animals. The nutria are about 2 feet in length, and sightings should be reported to the US Department of Agriculture's state office at 360-753-9884

Real Estate owners and environmentalists agree - we need to corral these critters quickly.

More info on Nutria:
Destruction of marshland habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife can be extreme where large populations of nutria thrive, for they are voracious consumers of marsh vegetation. Eating 25% of their weight daily in the form of roots, rhizomes, and plant stems, nutria carve up floating vegetation in their quest for food and burrow into shorelines to build their dens. Their appetite for wetland vegetation destroys fish habitat, pushes out muskrats, and ravages the nesting areas of ducks, grebes, and other water birds. Their burrowing undercuts sidewalks and roadways along Lake Washington Boulevard and is currently carving up the marshland near the Montlake Playfield in the south end of Portage Bay. Individuals who have encountered nutria feeding on their shoreside gardens report that they are not afraid of humans, and a recent article by Lisa Stiffler of the Seattle P-I states that they are also unafraid of pets and may carry disease affecting both humans and domestic animals.