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Archiver > LA-CAJUN > 2005-06 > 1117631076
From: "Augie August" <>
Subject: Terrebonne leads Louisiana in bagging nutri!
Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 08:08:31 -0500
Terrebonne leads La. in bagging nutri.
HOUMA, La. (AP) - Whether shot or trapped, used for food or fur, Terrebonne Parish nutria took the hardest hit this season from a $4-a-tail bounty offered by the state for their tails.
Terrebonne led the state in collecting nutria tails during the Louisiana Coastwide Nutria Control Program's third season, which stretches from November through March.
More than 80,000 of the marsh-eating rodents were killed in Terrebonne this year, an act that coastal advocates hope will help preserve the parish's fragile wetlands.
The state started the program in 2003 to curb wetland loss caused by hungry nutria. The 12- to 20-pound rodents can eat an estimated 25 percent of their weight in marsh plants each day, gobbling the stems and roots that hold the marsh together.
The program, which operates using money provided by the Coastal Wetlands Planning Protection and Restoration Act, aims to increase the annual harvest to 400,000 nutria. To accomplish this, registered participants receive a $4 payment for each nutria tail.
Statewide, 311 participants harvested 297,535 nutria, a decrease from last season's harvest of 332,596 nutria by 346 participants, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which manages the program.
The agency credits much of the decline to Hurricane Ivan, which caused high floodwaters to wipe out large amounts of nutria in Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes. The harvest within these parishes was down by 47,677 and 9,000 nutria respectively, according to the department.
The southeastern portion of the state, where nutria cause the most damage, again led the harvest, with Terrebonne at the top.
Terrebonne Parish participants turned over 81,135 nutria tails, followed by Plaquemines Parish with 39,043. Other significant harvests came from Lafourche Parish with 32,411, St. Martin Parish with 31,656, and St. Mary Parish with 20,940.
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