Eat a big rat-like rodent to keep invasive species in check, says US agency

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has a suggestion to help curb the growing population of an invasive species that bears a resemblance to a very large rat: Eat them.

The invasive species, nutria, is a large, semi-aquatic rodent increasingly found in marshes in the United States.

As a part of its National Invasive Species Awareness Week, which ended Feb 28, the federal agency released a list of

invasive species

that Americans can hunt, catch and cook to help control the unwanted pests.

Topping the list: the nutria, whose population is increasing and disrupting marshland ecosystems. The agency noted in its public advisory that hunting nutrias is not a total solution but is a start.

“OK, so how can we help?” the Feb 20 advisory said. “Nutria gumbo. Their meat is lean, mild and tastes like rabbit.”

Nutrias, which weigh 15 to 20 pounds (6.8kg to 9kg), are increasingly found along the Gulf Coast, in the Pacific North-west and in the South-eastern US.

Their exact population is unknown.

They are native to South America but were introduced to North America in the 19th century during the heyday of the fur trade, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

A group of nutrias, called a colony, can disrupt ecosystems and farming operations by burrowing extensively and uprooting flora.

The animal’s feeding habits can cause widespread erosion in wetland areas – like “something out of a disaster movie,” the Fish and Wildlife Service said on social media.

“Save a Swamp, Saute a Nutria,” the agency added.

Nutrias can serve as a flavourful base for all sorts of dishes, according to Mr Philippe Parola, a chef based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the author of Can’t Beat ’Em, Eat ’Em, a cookbook with recipes for 40 invasive species, including nutrias.

“It was crock-pot nutria,” Mr Parola said. “You get the hind and you put it in a crock pot – vegetable, beef broth, tomato paste. And you get the perfect stew.”

As long as the meat is cleaned after hunting, cooking nutria is like preparing any wild game, he said.

The community of Venice, Louisiana, situated at the end of the Mississippi River, hosts the annual Louisiana Nutria Rodeo. It is a competition to hunt and cook nutria, taking them out of the wild in a mission to conserve the bayou.

The rodeo, held in early February, attracted about 500 participants in 2025.

According to Mr Robbie Carter, the event organiser, some hunters show up with “truckloads” of the dead animal for the nutria toss (in which carcasses are flung), nutria cornhole and, best of all, the nutria cook-off.

“You have about six or seven teams,” Mr Carter said. “They made tacos, they made gumbo, they made sloppy joes using fresh nutria meat.”

“Tastes like chicken,” he added.

Mr Parola said he was sceptical that any public advisory could effectively encourage more people to hunt nutria. But he hoped that nutria dishes could be commercialised and prepared more often, rather than just as a novelty.

He said he once cooked a 20-gallon (75-litre) nutria gumbo at the rodeo for attendees to sample.

“It was gone in no time,” he said. NYTIMES