这种20磅重的入侵啮齿动物可能会摧毁加州的农业

这种20磅重的入侵啮齿动物可能会摧毁加州的农业

Here are some things you should know about nutria. They are a semiaquatic South American rodent a bit smaller than a beaver. Females can give birth three times a year and have up to 12 babies each litter. They are really good at tearing up crops, burrowing tunnels into levees, and other destructive behavior that is tough on farmers. And they've been discovered in California's San Joaquin Valley, a major food-producing area.

这里有一些关于海狸鼠你应该知道的事情。它们是一种半水生的南美洲啮齿动物，比海狸略小。雌性每年可生育三次，每胎最多可生育12个婴儿。它们非常擅长撕毁庄稼，在堤坝上挖洞，以及其他对农民不利的破坏性行为。它们是在加利福尼亚的圣华金谷被发现的，这是一个主要的食物生产区。

Nutria are semiaquatic rodents with a prolific appetite, which spells problems for California. (Photo: LucieBartikova/Shutterstock)

All of these facts spell huge problems for California officials tasked with the complicated task of removing these rodents from the state.

所有这些事实都给肩负着将这些啮齿类动物赶出加州这一复杂任务的加州官员带来了巨大的问题。

Nutria are already an invasive species wreaking havoc in Louisiana, Oregon and Maryland. They can quickly turn a wetland into a mudflat as they chomp down on plants. So when the species was spotted in Merced County, California, in March of 2017, officials knew exactly how worried they should be.

海狸鼠已经是一种入侵物种，在路易斯安那州、俄勒冈州和马里兰州肆虐。它们可以很快地把湿地变成泥滩，因为它们会吃掉植物。因此，当2017年3月在加州默塞德郡发现该物种时，官员们清楚地知道他们应该有多担心。

Equal opportunity offenders

机会均等的罪犯

Nutria have enormous potential not only to damage the infrastructure critical to delivering water to cities and farms, but they also threaten wetlands and riparian habitat as well as existing restoration projects. They can carry tuberculosis, septicemia, tape worm and other parasites that can contaminate water supplies. They are certainly not a welcome visitor, and they can quickly become an expensive problem.

海狸鼠不仅对向城市和农场供水至关重要的基础设施有巨大的潜力破坏，而且它们还威胁到湿地和河岸栖息地以及现有的恢复项目。它们能携带肺结核、败血症、磁带虫和其他能污染水源的寄生虫。它们肯定不受欢迎，而且很快就会成为一个代价高昂的问题。

"Within five years, the state estimates there could be nearly a quarter million nutria chewing up California's endangered wetlands," reports The Sacramento Bee.

《萨克拉门托蜜蜂报》报道说:“据加州估计，在五年内，将有近25万只海狸鼠啃食加州濒临灭绝的湿地。”

Since they were discovered in California in 2017, more than 700 nutria have been trapped and killed.

自2017年在加州发现海狸鼠以来，已有700多只海狸鼠被困并被杀死。

" They're incredibly prolific, which is why we have to get on it quickly," said Peter Tira, a spokesman for CDFW, told the Los Angeles Times in February. "They're a threat to our multibillion-dollar agricultural economy, and they're a public safety threat. If they get entrenched in the [San Joaquin River] Delta, they pose a huge threat to our water. It would be hard to get them out of there, and it would have consequences for the whole state."

CDFW的发言人Peter Tira在二月份接受《洛杉矶时报》采访时说，“它们是对我们数十亿美元农业经济的威胁，也是对公共安全的威胁。如果它们在(圣华金河)三角洲扎根，将对我们的水资源构成巨大威胁。要让他们离开那里很难，这将对整个州产生影响。”

In an effort to get ahead of the invasion, CDFW has received $10 million in 2019 in state funds to eradicate nutria. Another proposed bill would award $7 million to CDFW over five years to combat the rodents' spread, reports SF Gate.

为了赶在入侵之前，CDFW在2019年收到了1000万美元的国家基金，用于根除海狸鼠。据SF Gate报道，另一项提案将在五年内向CDFW拨款700万美元，以遏制这种啮齿类动物的传播。

It will take time and a significant amount of effort and funding, but officials feel confident they can get a handle on the nutria problem. And farmers are keeping their fingers crossed that the rodents don't advance further into the delta.

这将需要时间、大量的努力和资金，但官员们相信他们能够解决海狸鼠问题。农民们祈祷这些啮齿类动物不会进一步进入三角洲。

”It would be devastating," Merced County farmer Stan Silva told KQED. "They can basically ruin the ag industry here — they get in your fields, burrow into your canal ways, your waterways."

“这将是毁灭性的，”默塞德县农民斯坦席尔瓦告诉KQED。“它们基本上可以毁掉这里的农业——它们进入你的农田，挖洞进入你的运河和水道。”