Nutria report

[DRB]

I just heard on the radio NPR, that 300,000 nutria tails are brought in each year from Louisiana. Business is trying to market nutria bikinis, etc. as "green". Nutria are said to do a great deal of damage, eating the roots of plants. The government is paying $5/tail.

So nutria is now the "new green".

 

[thebroker]

I bet they'd be a lot of fun to hunt, actually. Wonder if one of the felt manufacturers would work out a nutria-tail-for-hat-body trade?

 

[azshawn]

I just heard the same report, and wondered if we would see a return of Nutria felt hats? I'm also pretty sure Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame shot some while on a dirty job years ago.

 

[W4ASZ]

Ye Olde Nutria Thread

See here, now !

No, really ! See here !

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?48505-Nutria-felt-in-the-modern-day

 

[thebroker]

I just ran across this...

http://www.nutria.com/site9.php

I would actually be very interested in taking a little vacation to go hunt the little varmints.

 

[Cliffnopus]

I'm waiting for the new "Snipe" hats. I hear they're soft and difficult to bag.

Cliff

 

[HATCO]

I listened to that report back in December as well. I contacted them but their cost per pelt was much too high and they weren't willing to come down on price. Too bad.

 

[W4ASZ]

Stay with that thought !

I listened to that report back in December as well. I contacted them but their cost per pelt was much too high and they weren't willing to come down on price. Too bad.

Some of the old boys in Terrebonne Parish might be interested in forming a Cajun cooperative to meet your requirements. :eeek:

More rat in more hat !

 

[thebroker]

I listened to that report back in December as well. I contacted them but their cost per pelt was much too high and they weren't willing to come down on price. Too bad.

How many pelts would you estimate you'd need to make a commercially viable run of felt? I would be fascinated by a modern day Nutria hat.

 

[4spurs]

I used to hunt nutria in the swamps for sport, like shooting rats at the town dump, except nutria are a lot larger. Haven't done it in 40 years. They're about as easy to find as mosquitoes in Louisiana.

 

[danofarlington]

I'm waiting for the new "Snipe" hats. I hear they're soft and difficult to bag.

Cliff

They are most commonly found on E Bay. Snipers abound there.

 

[4spurs]

I've always said that folks in Louisiana will eat anything, but I had no idea . . .http://www.nutria.com/site14.php I'll have to check with John Besh and see if it's on his menu.

 

[W4ASZ]

Nutria Northwest

If Louisiana can't produce enough pelts at a good price, maybe the answer is Oregon :

http://www.youtube.com/usfws#p/c/0/dxWGHfeAEGI

 

[1961MJS]

I listened to that report back in December as well. I contacted them but their cost per pelt was much too high and they weren't willing to come down on price. Too bad.

Good to hear from the Stetson office. I find it both silly and stupid (and therefore completely believable) that it's less expensive to buy a "farm animal" pelt and get it made into a hat, than to take road kill, or what the exterminator left, and do the same thing to it. There should be a way around that somewhere, somehow, I mean really, they're great big RATS.

Later

 

[peach]

They are also known as alligator popcorn.

 

[DRB]

I'm waiting for the new "Snipe" hats. I hear they're soft and difficult to bag.

Cliff

I bagged a snipe when I was in the cub scouts. So soft.

 

[gtdean48]

How many pelts would you estimate you'd need to make a commercially viable run of felt? I would be fascinated by a modern day Nutria hat.

Last year when we visited Winchester Hat Factory, they had Nutria fur for felting bodies used for Highway Patrol & other uniform hats by Stratton.
It felt a lot more coarse than the beaver fur, IMHO. Seemed like it would make a sturdy lid...

 

[T Jones]

The Nutria Water Rat

Originally shipped to the United States from Argentina in the 1930s for its soft fur, the Nutria water rat has become an invasive pest on the eco-system of Louisiana. The state is even encouraging a resurgence of interest in Nutria fur fashions as many of the pests are killed and their pelts are tossed away...

Nutria are nocturnal, semi-aquatic mammals that have invaded Louisiana’s marshes since being brought to the area from Argentina for their soft pelts in the 1930s. They’re strange animals with bodies like beavers, rat-like tails, duck feet and nipples on the sides of their bodies.

Once prized, nutria are now wreaking havoc on the Louisiana ecosystem by grazing on the roots of plants, destroying vegetation and making the soil prone to erosion.

A government effort to promote the animal as a tasty addition to Louisiana diets — complete with recipes — came up short, and now designers and activists are hoping to create a resurgence in demand for their pelts.

Thousands of nutria are killed every year by the state’s Coastwide Nutria Control Program, and the pelts are currently going to waste. With an increase in demand for the pelts, the overpopulation problem could be resolved.

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/natural-beauty-fashion/stories/fur-and-balanced-guilt-free-nutria-pelts

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Are they still a pest?

 

[T Jones]

Are they still a pest?

From what I understand they still are.

According to the article:

Once prized, nutria are now wreaking havoc on the Louisiana ecosystem by grazing on the roots of plants, destroying vegetation and making the soil prone to erosion.....Thousands of nutria are killed every year by the state’s Coastwide Nutria Control Program, and the pelts are currently going to waste. With an increase in demand for the pelts, the overpopulation problem could be resolved.