Nutria(#789)

[FrodeauxB at aol.com]

Sorry I'm late on this, and I now you have moved on, but the nutria was 
originally brought to Louisiana back in the late 50's-early 60's to be farm 
raised to be the new fur. A hurricane (can't remember which one, have so many 
down here) blew down, among many things, the enclosures, letting the nutria 
out. Being the breeding rats they are, they soon became fruitful and 
multiplied to excess, having few natural enemies (their initial population 
explosion occurred about the time alligators were endangered. Now that they 
are back, there is some check, but hey, gator or not, you can only eat so 
much of anything...but, digress). For a while, Cajun trappers did well 
freelancing, but then the market fell, the pets-are-people-too-crowd grew, 
and someone came up with the idea to use 'em for dog food. There's a plant on 
Bayou Lafourche near Golden Meadow which is still in operation, although not 
producing on anywhere near the scale it did when first opened (hey dog 
lovers/owners...Hello, a little help here please. Means jobs for my people). 
They are still trapped for their fur, and lately the state has launched an 
effort to promote the meat as enjoyably edible. However, even in a culture 
which has a reputation for eating anything because we know how to make it 
taste good (Yankees-it's called seasoning), the idea of eating a rat doesn't, 
dare I say it, go down easy. I see them every time I duck hunt, in the rice 
fields or the marsh. Quiet little fellers, will scare a duck but never eats 
one. Now, those gators...but, I digress. Calling someone a nutria is not a 
compliment, and I think TRP knows it. Remember his "Slow Learner" short story 
set in Lake Charles which we, at least I, have mentioned before? I really 
wonder if the old boy has been down this way more than he's told us. 
Anybody read "Techgnosis"? Interesting, and TRP gets two direct cites, 
including a specific mention of GR.