Louisiana backs off, lets family keep invasive rodent as a pet

Louisiana backs off, lets family keep invasive rodent as a pet
Story by Jonathan Edwards • 1h ago






Denny and Myra Lacoste told a Louisiana newspaper reporter last week all about their pet rodent, Neuty, whom they’d rescued two years before. The animal, a nutria, had since become a part of their family and something of a local celebrity.

The 22-pound “water rat” liked to stick his head out of Denny’s pickup truck like a beagle, they told the Times-Picayune. He ate a mostly vegetarian diet but sometimes got Popeye’s fried chicken as a treat. He had been declared the official mascot of Bayou 95.7, a New Orleans rock-and-roll radio station.

On Thursday, a day after the story ran, officials with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries showed up at the Lacostes’ seafood business in Metairie, La., a New Orleans suburb. Wildlife agents told them that state law prohibits people from owning nutria, a semiaquatic rodent that, according to the department, “has caused considerable damage to the state’s coastline, crops and marshes.” They had come to seize the animal, which is considered an invasive species in Louisiana.

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The threat of losing their pet put in motion a 33-hour scramble to keep Neuty, one that would involve lawyers and thousands of Neuty fans demanding that state officials back off. It worked. A day after citing the Lacostes and demanding they fork over Neuty, wildlife officials issued them a special permit, allowing them to keep him so long as they obey certain provisions.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/louisiana-backs-off-lets-family-keep-invasive-rodent-as-a-pet/ar-AA18SZKt