Officials Are Urging Californians to Eat This Rodent Species That 'Tastes Like Rabbit'

Mar. 15, 2025

A nutria in the wild.Photo:Getty

Getty

A new source of sustenance has been added to the California diet. Wildlife agencies are urging locals to eat an invasive rodent wreaking havoc on the surrounding ecosystem.

“EAT ME! Please? I’m invasive and delicious,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wrote in a Feb. 24Facebookpost advising people to start hunting and eating nutria, a big, semi-aquatic rodent native to South America. “It’s National Invasive Species Awareness Week and this year, please consider the following slogan: ‘Save a Swamp, Sauté a Nutria.’ ”

The push to eat more of the species, which is supposed to taste like rabbit or turkey, came last month from the agency as it fights to eradicate the problem. California and 19 other states, including Oregon and Mississippi, are overrun with the animal, which was first brought to the U.S. in 1889 for its fur, according to theUnited States Department of Agriculture. When the nutria fur market collapsed in the 1940s, ranchers released thousands of nutria into the wild. For decades, the states the species inhabit have paid the price.

“Their nonstop munching and burrowing destroy the plants that keep marshes stable,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continued, “leading to erosion, loss of habitat and wetlands that look like something out of a disaster movie.”

In California, the nutria population was eliminated in the 1970s, but a population was found in the San Joaquin Valley in 2017, according to theCalifornia Department of Fish and Wildlife.

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For a nutria recipe, Erin Higgins, a digital strategist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, suggests a Louisiana tradition. “Nutria gumbo,” she wrote in a post entitled“Eat the Invaders.”“Their meat is lean, mild and tastes like rabbit.”

The recommendation to eat the animal has received a myriad of responses.

“I’ve heard they’re delicious prepared and served like some good pulled pork,” wrote one follower in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s post.

Another person was more skeptical.

“I’d eat a lot of things but I draw the line at Giant rats,” she wrote on Facebook.

Nutria aren’t the only invasive species wildlife agencies have suggested locals put in a stew.

source: people.com