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Nearly 1,000 rat-like creatures reported to be 2.5-feet and weigh 20 lbs have been spotted in the Bay Area, SFGate.com reports.
The nutria rodents are reportedly continuing to spread to Contra Costa County and posing a risk to a critical watershed, Krysten Kellum, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Bay Delta region, and Matthew Slattengren, agriculture commissioner in Contra Costa County, both confirmed to the San Francisco Chronicle, which initially reported the invasion and is also owned by Hearst, the SFGate's parent parent company.
The nutria, also known as coypu, is a herbivore species commonly found in South America that burrows alongside stretches of water and feeds on river plant stems capable of transmitting various diseases, such as tuberculosis and septicemia, as well as tapeworms causing the "nutria itch" rash, to humans and animals through water contamination. The rodents' presence has led to widespread concerns as they continue to migrate through wetland habitat, with expected significant losses in crops, as well as "weaken levees to the point of failure" in the aftermath of their burrowing, Slattengren told the San Francisco Chronicle in an email.
“We cannot have nutria reproducing in the delta,” said Peter Tira, California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson, via SFGate.com. “The threat to California’s economy is too great.”