San Fran Now Overrun with Invasive 20 Pound Rodent Infestation

[FlyersFan]

I had no idea where to put this.
And at first I thought it was a joke article, but turns out it's real.

20 pound rats called nutria rats, measuring 2.5 feet long, invasive from South America, have invaded San Francisco.  They mess up the water systems and each female can have up to 200 offspring each year.   How on earth did this happen?  How did this South American rat take old in North America?  How'd it get here?  San Francisco is a sanctuary city .. did the illegals bring them in as pets and them let them go?  This is wild.

Reminds me of the Prince Bride movie.   ROUS ... Rodents Of Unusual Size.  

Full Societal Collapse - San Fran Now Overrun with Invasive 20 Pound Rodent Infestation

Nearly a thousand nutria have been hunted in the Bay Area this year, but sightings show the invasive 2.5-foot-long rodents have now spread to Contra Costa County, threatening a key watershed, according to a new report from SF Gate. Wildlife officials are urging the public to report any sightings.
 
Krysten Kellum, spokesperson for California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Matthew Slattengren, Contra Costa County agriculture commissioner, confirmed the discovery in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
 
The rodents pose a serious threat as they burrow through wetland habitats, damage crops, and can weaken levees, risking failure in a region that supplies water to cities and farms statewide.

The SF Gate report says that nutria can produce up to 200 offspring annually and consume up to 25% of their body weight daily, but destroy up to 10 times more, threatening endangered species and native plants. They also carry diseases like tuberculosis, septicemia, and parasites that can infect humans, pets, and livestock.

[UltraBudgie]

apparently you can make cozy clothing out of them


https://www.estatefurs.com/catalog/produ...lamb-trim/

so look at the silver lining haha

edit to add funny she looks mildly stunned like what im wearing RATS ??? hehe

[IdeomotorPrisoner]

To be fair, the Nutria infestation is 7 years in the making. First one was 2017. And likely invaded from Oregon somehow. Or were released exotic pets people couldn't keep anymore so they drove it out to a slough where it hooked up with the other discarded wetland vermin and invaders.

While The Bay Area made their own bed on mostly everything else, this is one that is just coincidental.

I know they're not Norwegian ship rats, but I gotta assume all rodents do similar things, especially how they expand their habitat and breed as they do.

Nutria live in social groups of a harem of females, their rat puppies, and one Alpha male. Harbor Seals have Beachmasters, Nutria have Swampmasters.



Any time invasive fauna comes up this comes to mind:

[Lynyrd Skynyrd]

I may have seen a nutria in a local creek. It was only visible for a second, and could have been a muskrat, instead. This same creek has salmon runs, and river otters.

[ArMaP]

There's one difference between rats and nutrias, nutrias are herbivorous, not omnivorous.

Regarding the "200 offspring each year", I doubt it very much, as Wikipedia states the gestation period is 130 days and they have, at most, 13 offspring, which would give 39 offspring in little more than one year.

[argentus]

There's one difference between rats and nutrias, nutrias are herbivorous, not omnivorous.

Regarding the "200 offspring each year", I doubt it very much, as Wikipedia states the gestation period is 130 days and they have, at most, 13 offspring, which would give 39 offspring in little more than one year.

Man, you always come through with that measurable data which I crave.   Thank you ArMap ​​​​​​​

[argentus]

If this story is true, the Nutria didn't arrive there accidentally, or as a result through natural northward migration.  Nope.  So, first we have to determine if the story is true.   I will undergo research to establish this.   I believe it to be true, but I want to KNOW if it is true or not.

[Lynyrd Skynyrd]

Man, you always come through with that measurable data which I crave.   Thank you ArMap

Except the offspring nutria might also be breeding within that first year. He calculated for a single female when there might be 20 giving birth.

[ArMaP]

Except the offspring nutria might also be breeding within that first year. He calculated for a single female when there might be 20 giving birth.

There might be 20, 200 or 2000.

The opening post said "each female can have up to 200 offspring each year".

The article itself is more vague, stating only "that nutria can produce up to 200 offspring annually and consume up to 25% of their body weight daily", which appears to imply they are talking about each animal.

Curiously, the original SFGate article the article from the OP uses says "Nutria reproduce at a prolific rate, giving birth to as many as 39 offspring in a little over a year."

If we consider all the possible added nutria, then we have one female giving birth to 39, but of those 39, if we consider the first 13 are able to have children after 3 months, then we can add 13 x 13 after 3 months + approximately 4 months gestation, which means 169 new offspring, that, added to the original 13 and another their mother had again then we get 195.

I suppose that's a way of making the news a little more impressive.

[Maxmars]

What we need are predators... or the trajectory of the animal population growth will 'change the game' in the local environment.  If it hasn't already.

Nutria require alligators and crocodile type predators.... how's that gonna play out?

San Fran was already a strange bird, given the management... why do I see them raising taxes over this?