BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. – Thousands of dead nutrias have washed ashore on Hancock County beaches during Isaac.
Hancock County officials say they are concerned that the nutria – large semiaquatic rodents – could create a health and environmental hazard.
“They’re in the tide and just floating in and they’re probably going to continue coming in over the next several days. There’s no telling how many thousands we’re going to have,” Waveland Mayor David Garcia tells WLOX-TV.
Department of Environmental Quality officials say so far they’ve counted more than 5,000 dead nutrias on Hancock County beaches, but they say that number could top 10,000 before they all finish washing ashore.
Hancock County faced a similar nutria problem after Hurricane Gustav.