YORK COUNTY, Va. — There’s an animal in my freezer that looks like a giant rat.
It was killed because it was acting oddly and because, well, giant rat equals heebie-jeebies.
But mostly, it was dispatched because we’d decided it was a nutria.
And nutria are outlaws: an invasive species that wipes out wetlands, devours crops and digs into dams — so dreaded it has its own wanted poster.
I’ve been keeping the carcass on ice — quadruple bagged — in case some expert wants to take a look.
Imported decades ago for their fur, nutria have been chewing their way north into Hampton Roads for years. Until recently, the James River confined them to the South Side.
But now they’ve breached the Great Wall, getting a toehold in virgin territory, where conditions are even riper for a population explosion.
Sightings are being reported from Hampton to Mathews County, but the only presence that’s been confirmed is on the Chickahominy River, northwest of Williamsburg.
The infiltration was likely launched from Surry County, which nutria expanded into some time ago.
“The James isn’t that wide there and it only takes one pregnant female to make the swim,” said Todd Engelmeyer, regional biologist with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. “It’s a miracle it hasn’t happened before.”
The ecological menace now has a clear path to the Potomac River, where it could cross into Maryland — a state that recently declared itself nutria-free after a $25 million, 20-year search-and-destroy campaign.
“Absolutely the last thing we want to see is them showing up here again,” said Jonathan McKnight, a biologist with Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources. “When I look south into Virginia, I’m really worried — for your sake as well as ours.”
The semi-aquatic rodents, which can top 20 pounds, typically prefer wetlands. With big orange teeth, they indulge their taste for plant roots, consuming a quarter of their body weight daily, creating swathes of dead zones known as “eat outs.”
Coastal marshes become mud flats, then open water. Erosion gets worse. And the vital nurseries and feeding grounds for all sorts of fish, fowl and blue crabs disappear.
“You’ve got some of the most beautiful tidal wetlands on the planet,” McKnight said, “and they serve the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem that we share. To let nutria get in there and run loose would be the ultimate in folly and irresponsibility.”
Federal money bankrolled Maryland’s nutria war — funding that’s now up for grabs for the next front. About $12 million is on the table, destined to be divvied among states that can show the greatest need.
Virginia is pulling together its pitch. Experts are assessing environmental and economic impacts. Signs have been posted at about 50 boat ramps north of the James, asking the public to be on the lookout and report sightings.
So far, most of the checked-out reports have led to muskrats — slightly shier and smaller but with similar features, including long, rat-like tails.
“But muskrats are native,” McKnight said. “They eat the tops of plants instead of the roots, so they don’t hurt the marsh. They’re our friends.”
Thoughts return to my freezer.
Uh-oh.
