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Nutrias: a totally pointless post

Howdy everyone,
I was at a travel agency the other day when I noticed a poster about saving nutrias. If you don't know what a nutria is, have a look around here:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutria

Until that point I never knew that nutrias are endangered nor had I even thought about them in a long long time.

I'm from eastern Germany and before the wall came down nutria was a very common and cheap meat for us there - the nutrias were domesticated for their fur and the meat was more or less "leftover". When the wall came down the interest in furs disappeared and so did the nutrias - now I'm starting to wonder whether or not they became an endangered species recently or whether this has been going on for longer.

And of course (I'm a bit sentimental) is there any place to get nutria in Bogotá (of course not illegally hunted nurtia but proper domesticated ones)?

By tobntno on Jan 2, 2006, 21:17 in Friendly Talkzone.

adrimm (☼Travelguide writer) says on Jan 2, 2006, 23:17:

Sea Otters I have no idea about other part of the world, but I do know that on the west coast of North America (from Alaska down to California) sea otters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_otters) were virtually wiped out by the fur-trade industry (some estimates put them down to 1000 individuals). Following this they were poached and said to be competeing with abalone farmers.

River otters were impacted to a far lesser extent, and have moved into many of the coastal areas formerly inhabited by sea otters. After decades of work filled with many setbacks (http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/07/06/otter.survey.enn/index.html) , recovery appears to be on the horizon, with a few firmly re-established colonies of sea otters in locations along the coast (mostly Alaska and British Columbia).

The populations are still enormously fragile and face the challenges of depleting food stocks (there were lots more fish the sea 300 years ago), and greater threats from traditional predators that are now eating up the food chain bvecuase their own traditional food supplies are more scarce.

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utopiacowboy says on Jan 3, 2006, 11:25:

Nutria are basically water rats with all the attendant charms. I used to have them in the creek out behind my house on the ranch. They are not endangered here.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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Gator says on Jan 3, 2006, 14:08:

Jesus H. Christ.... what's coming next? Save the Nutras for Gods sake!! Nasty beasts.

"Credidi pretio parvo emere et magno vendere tibi in animo fuisse!" .

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