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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Isaac Washes Up Nearly 18,000 Dead Swamp Rats On Mississippi Coast |
| 2012-09-06 |
| (CBS Houston/AP) -- Crews in Mississippi are cleaning up thousands of dead swamp rats that washed ashore from Hurricane Isaac. The Sun Herald reports that an estimated 16,000 to 18,000 nutria -- semiaquatic, rat-like rodents -- ...also known as 'good eating' when times are tough... and other dead animals washed up in Hancock County after drowning in Hurricane Isaac's storm surge. A federal contractor, U.S. Environmental Services, will dump the bodies in a landfill rated to take household garbage. That's what I want: a job counting dead swamp rats when the humidity's high... "I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home, they're not much bigger than two meters." "Then man your ships. And may the Force be with you." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 They weren't introduced for eating, they were introduced for fur. Then they got loose and started destroying the swamps. |
| Posted by: gromky 2012-09-06 23:25 |
| #9 Waiting for the off shore oil rigs that aren't drilling to be blamed by the tree, uh, rat huggers, in some kind of bizarre way..... |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2012-09-06 23:03 |
| #8 A drop in the bucket, considering the stateside population is estimated at 20m. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2012-09-06 19:10 |
| #7 They were introduced precisely BECAUSE they were "good eatin'". Unfortunately, their ability to reproduce outstripped the capacity of people and gators to eat them. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2012-09-06 11:50 |
| #6 Are they registered to vote? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2012-09-06 09:30 |
| #5 Gromky, nutria can be pretty good eating. There have been cooking contests here in New Orleans with some noted chefs included - all part of a PR campaign - and tasters approved, but the prejudice against eating something that looked like a big rat and was called a rat just couldn't be overcome. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2012-09-06 08:54 |
| #4 I didn't think that Isaac got up to Charlotte. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2012-09-06 08:19 |
| #3 You forget, the dead do vote, surprisingly a straight Donk ticket. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2012-09-06 08:11 |
| #2 18,000 votes the Dems won't get. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-09-06 06:47 |
| #1 Nutria are good eating? Ugh, no. Otherwise they wouldn't be a problem. They're an invasive species from South America. Good to hear thousands of them died in a hurricane. |
| Posted by: gromky 2012-09-06 03:25 |