MARYDEL, Del- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said destructive nutria have been found in Delaware in the Mud Mill Pond near Marydel.
The semi-aquatic rodents, which were once farmed for their fur, feed on wetland plants and have led to the loss of thousands of acres of marsh to erosion throughout the Chesapeake Bay. Originally from South America, they are believed to have escaped or been released in the 1940s from fur farms in Maryland, where they have established a wild population.
Federal officials say although isolated reports have been received, the recent discovery in a Marydel pond is the first confirmed population found in Delaware since 2002.
State and federal officials say they now plan to work on a strategy to remove nutria from Delaware. Joe Rogerson of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control said the nutria need to be removed to protect the habitat.
"We've found some vegetation loss, some digging along the bank, where the nutria go in and feed on the roots of plant species," he said. "As the water levels change, it washed out that soil that those plant roots were holding in place, so we actually get a loss of bank stability in the pond."
Steve Kendrot, a USDA wildlife biologist, along with specialists from DNRE, were out looking for signs of nutria Thursday. They also put out wood platforms in the water to track the species.
"They are basically floating rafts that the nutria climb up on and leave us a calling card in the form of their droppings," Kendrot said. He said they will put traps out by the end of the month and hope to eradicate the population as soon as possible.
Residents of Maryland and Delaware can report nutria sightings to the Nuisance Wildlife Hotline at 1-877-463-6497. More information about nutria and efforts to remove them can be found at Chesapeake Bay Nutria Eradication Project .
