March 27, 2014

Louisiana’s Swamp-Rat Dog TreatPosted by Mary Ann Sternberg

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Nutria, the furry rodents with ratlike tails and two bright-orange front teeth, reproduce at astounding rates. In Louisiana, theyhave consumed acres of native flora and exposed broad swaths of marsh to erosion by tides and storms. In recent years, thestate government, looking to reduce the population of feral nutria, has decided that it wants people to kill them, and hasplaced a bounty on their tails as encouragement. That has raised the question of what to do with their bodies. One idea is toturn them into a line of dog treats.

Nutria were imported to Louisiana from South America in the nineteen-thirties, to be farmed for their fur. Eventually, somegot free. As long as the fur industry flourished, Louisiana’s population of feral nutria was kept under control by trappers. Inthe late fifties, nutria surpassed muskrat in the state’s fur trade in both numbers of animals trapped and value of pelts.According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, more than a million nutria were harvested each yearbetween 1962 and 1982; the price of a single pelt peaked at $8.19. (Today, one goes for about five dollars.) Sheared nutria—the plush grayish layer left after the animal’s longer guard hairs are removed—was considered a luxury item, used for lining,trim, and the occasional coat. Greta Garbo and Elizabeth Taylor wore nutria. But, in the late eighties, the fur market began tocollapse under a glut of farmed fur from Europe, and an economic upheaval in Russia dramatically reduced demand. Theanimal-rights movement played a role as well. Fur fell out of fashion. Nutria began to overrun the marshes. Even thealligators couldn’t keep them in check.

In 2002, with federal funds allocated through the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act, the LouisianaDepartment of Wildlife and Fisheries instituted a bounty program. “Nutria is an invasive species and we can probably nevereradicate every one,” Edmond Mouton, a biologist and the director of the nutria-control program for Wildlife and Fisheries,told me. The department defines success as four hundred thousand nutria killed annually.

Bounty collectors must present tails that are longer than seven inches and “fresh or well-preserved (iced or frozen).” Theremaining carcasses, if they aren’t sold, must be “buried, placed in heavy overhead vegetation or concealed by any othermeans necessary to prevent consumption by birds,” but there is no enforcement. When the program began, Wildlife andFisheries developed a parallel campaign to promote nutria meat for public consumption. It established U.S.D.A.-certifiedfacilities to inspect the meat, and marketed it by its French name, ragondin, as a new lean protein that tastes like turkey. Theagency sponsored a regional chef to showcase ragondin recipes; diners were enthusiastic until they realized they were eatingrodent. Although the nutria-meat campaign never achieved success, the ever-hopeful Wildlife and Fisheries devotes a page ofits nutria-control-program site to a recipe for “Heart Healthy ‘Crock-Pot’ Nutria.”

A few years ago, the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program announced a grant program for new conservationprojects to preserve, protect, and restore south Louisiana between the Mississippi River and the Atchafalaya River. Hanseland Veni Harlan, a brother-and-sister team who love dogs (they have ten between them), submitted an application to processsome of the potentially wasted nutria carcasses to make dog food or treats, and won a small grant. In 2011, they launchedMarsh Dog, which is the only commercial seller of nutria meat.

Marsh Dog produces Barataria Bites, a dog biscuit, and Bark, a nutria-meat jerky. Each step of biscuit production is carriedout by hand by employees at the company’s headquarters, in Baton Rouge. (Jerky is produced offsite.) Using Veni’s pickuptruck, the company distributes to pet stores, veterinary offices, and natural-food shops within a hundred miles. The productscan also be ordered online. “I know we can’t solve the coastal problem, but we can help educate about it,” Hansel said. In2012, Marsh Dog won the Conservation Business of the Year award from the Louisiana Wildlife Federation. The Harlansthought it should be shared with dogs, because, as Hansel said, it turns them “into canine conservationists.”

Mary Ann Sternberg, a freelance writer, is the author of “River Road Rambler” and five other nonfiction books.

Photograph: Frantisek Vlcek/ISIFA/Getty

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