California sure seems to have a plethora of problems these days. The once-Golden state is broke. The state is overseen by one of the least capable governors in the 50 states. They have among the highest fuel prices, the highest taxes, and the highest cost of living in the country. Their population is fleeing; all the productive members, anyway. You can’t even rent a U-Haul to go from Los Angeles to Dallas right now; they’re all already in Dallas, taken there by families fleeing for greener pastures. And then, there’s the huge influx of illegal immigrants that the state has suffered over the last few years.
Now there’s a new wave of immigrants, and they are something different: An invasion of 20-pound aquatic rodents.
California is under invasion from a 20-pound rodent once believed to have been eradicated from the state – and officials now fear humans may be to blame.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said DNA testing of the 2.5-foot-long pest, known as a nutria, shows the current population is linked to animals in Oregon, not to the species that roamed California in the 1970s before being wiped out.
“This study supports our long-held belief that the current invasion is the result of reintroduction rather than explosive growth of a remnant, undetected population,” the CDFW ‘s Nutria Eradication Program Manager Valerie Cook said.
Nutria are semi-aquatic rodents native to South America that live near freshwater and estuaries. Because they burrow like beavers, they can cause extensive damage to water infrastructure, banks and levees, posing a hazard to people, livestock and machine operators, according to the agency.
Nutria, I am given to understand, are like giant muskrats, but without the shiny, valuable fur. They are destructive burrowers, digging under river and creek banks, destroying landscaping and undermining waterways, levees and wing dams.
Read More: Forget Cats and Dogs — in Florida, It’s Raining… Reptiles
Hybrid Super Pigs: The Destructive Canadian Invasion Now Heading for the U.S.
Worst of all, they breed like… well, rats.
This new wave of nutria appears to have come from Oregon, and may have been introduced on purpose.
“Given where nutria were rediscovered in California, it is nearly impossible that they could have migrated there on their own,” Michael Buchalski of the CDFW told SFGATE.
“It’s too far of a distance and we don’t find any nutria in the areas in between. That makes human introduction the most likely scenario.”
“Someone may have thought they could be an effective natural way to manage aquatic vegetation on their private property,” Buchalski added. “Also, some people just really like nutria… Or it could have been malicious in hopes that they would cause environmental damage. It’s hard to know.”
Never underestimate the ability of some people to just do something like this because they think they can. And the downside is, there’s very little chance of the perp being caught, unless someone rats them out. This could very well have been a one-person operation, wherein someone live-trapped a dozen or so of these animals and dumped them into a California waterway in the dark of night. They would likely have had to repeat that task a couple of times to get a viable population, but once those things are established, it’s a heck of a job to get rid of them. And now, it looks like California is going to have to do just that.
Maybe this could be a job for Rep. Eric Swalwell (CA-14) and Governor Newsom, after they both leave office. They’re Democrats, after all, and accustomed to dealing with other rodents.
Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.
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