Cutting-Edge Nutria research in Cameron Parish (1977–1978)

By Dr. Paul Coreil

After completing my undergraduate studies at USL, I applied to and was accepted into the Master of Science program in Wildlife Management at LSU's School of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries (now the School of Renewable Natural Resources). My lifelong goal was to become a wildlife biologist, and I knew LSU offered one of the nation's premier graduate programs in wildlife management.

Securing a graduate assistantship quickly became my highest priority because it would significantly reduce the financial burden of graduate school. These assistantships not only covered tuition but also provided a monthly stipend to help with living expenses and provide funds required to complete a master's degree.

After meeting with several wildlife faculty members, I was fortunate that one wildlife professor had funding from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) to conduct a study on the habitat preferences and movements of nutria inhabiting Louisiana’s coastal marshes. Without hesitation, I eagerly accepted the assistantship associated with this study.

Nutria were originally imported to Louisiana from South America because of the commercial value of their fur. After escaping captivity, they adapted remarkably well to Louisiana's wetlands and rapidly expanded throughout the state's marshes, swamps, canals, and agricultural areas wherever water and abundant vegetation were available. During the 1970s, nutria pelts were highly prized, with trappers often receiving $8 to $10 per pelt—a substantial sum at the time—as nutria fur coats were popular throughout the fashion industry worldwide.

The research project consisted of two phases. The first was to determine whether radio telemetry collars could successfully be fitted on live nutria without harming the animals or interfering with their normal behavior.

Once that objective was achieved, the second phase involved tracking six adult female nutria over an entire year to determine their movements, home ranges, and habitat preferences within Louisiana's intermediate marshes—a unique wetland type lying between freshwater and brackish marshes.

To begin the study, I constructed a large holding pen at LSU's Ben Hur Research Farm, just south of main campus, where live-trapped nutria could be housed while various collar materials were tested. I traveled to Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in Cameron Parish, Marsh Island Wildlife Refuge in Iberia Parish, and the State Wildlife Refuge in Vermilion Parish to capture adult female nutria for the project.

Thirty nutria were eventually placed in the pen. Five groups of six animals each were used to evaluate different collar materials, with one group serving as a control with no collars. The nutria had access to fresh water for swimming and grooming and were fed sweet potatoes, which quickly proved to be an extremely nutritious meal for the captive animals.

Everything progressed smoothly until one Sunday morning when I arrived to feed the animals. To my complete disbelief, every nutria was gone. Someone—who I still suspect was a group of adventurous LSU students looking for Saturday-night entertainment—opened the gate during the night, allowing all 30 study animals to escape...My heart sank.

Months of preparation and research findings vanished overnight, and I feared my graduate research—and perhaps my hopes of earning a master's degree—may come to an abrupt end.

After overcoming the initial shock, I immediately contacted my major professor to explain what had happened. Everyone sympathized with the situation, but sympathy alone would not rescue my research. What I needed was a recovery plan.

Then an idea struck me...

The nutria had become accustomed to being fed fresh sweet potatoes every day inside the pen. Hoping they had not wandered far, I placed live traps both inside and around the perimeter of the enclosure and baited each trap with slices of sweet potato.

The results exceeded my wildest expectations. The very first night I recaptured 10 of the escaped nutria.The second night I caught eight more. Over the next several days I continued trapping until, remarkably, I had recovered 29 of the 30 escaped animal. Only one nutria remained at large.

I considered myself incredibly fortunate. Recovering 29 animals allowed me to salvage the entire collar evaluation study and continue my graduate research with only a temporary setback.

At the conclusion of the pen study, I determined that round, nylon-covered rubber tubing was by far the best collar material. Unlike flat nylon belting, it allowed the nutria to groom normally and caused no abrasions or irritation around the neck. That collar design was then used successfully throughout the year-long radio telemetry study at Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge.

Months later, while I was deeply involved in the field telemetry study, I received an unexpected call from LDWF. A fur trapper from the Spanish Lake area east of campus had mailed in one of my dummy radio collars. It belonged to nutria number 30—the only animal that had escaped and was never recaptured. The trapper had harvested the nutria during the regular trapping season in the Spanish Lake Swamp of Iberville Parish, more than 15 miles from LSU's Ben Hur Research Farm where it had escaped many months earlier. Remarkably, that animal had been wearing the same nylon-covered rubber tubing collar that my research ultimately identified as the best collar material. Even after months in the wild, the collar remained intact, providing one final confirmation that the material was ideally suited for long-term telemetry studies.

In the end, I successfully completed the year-long radio telemetry research and earned my Master of Science degree from LSU. My thesis was titled Habitat Preferences, Movements, and Activities of Adult Female Nutria in a Southwestern Louisiana Intermediate Marsh Area.

After completing my studies in June 1978, I accepted a position as the first Sea Grant Extension Service Agent in Cameron Parish, the very parish where my graduate research had been conducted. That opportunity launched a rewarding 14-year career serving the coastal communities of southwest Louisiana. My wife and I raised our three children in Grand Chenier, only a few miles from Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge!

Today, nutria fur has little commercial value, and harvesting is driven primarily by Louisiana's nutria control program, which currently pays a $6 bounty for each nutria tail collected. Large coastal landowners and public agencies rely on this program to reduce the extensive marsh damage caused by nutria feeding on the root systems of wetland vegetation. Protecting Louisiana's fragile coastal marshes remains one of the state's highest priorities because these wetlands provide critical wildlife habitat and serve as an essential buffer against hurricanes and storm surge.

Looking back nearly 50-years later, I am humbled to know that my graduate research contributed, in a small way, to the scientific understanding of nutria ecology and helped advance wildlife management techniques that continue to benefit Louisiana's coastal wetlands today.

Until next time,

Paul Coreil