Slowly but surely!

  Normally, nutria rats are an annoyance.  They do devastating damage to the marsh by eating the roots of the plants.  This kills off acres of the marshlands and leaves the shoreline open to erosion.  The rodents are such a scourge that there is even a bounty on their heads.  Folks are encouraged to rid the wetlands of any and all.  I have no problem with that.  With their rapid reproduction rate and the fact that they have very few natural enemies, the nutria rats will soon take over a place.  They will eat their way through any vegetation available and then move on to the next marshy area.  The fact that they can be such a nuisance brings their own pack of troubles.  It is not in my nature to kill critters just for the sake of killing and rarely kill one for any other reason so I doubt I will ever rid the Bayou of these critters.  After this evening, I am seriously doubting my disdain for the critters at all.

  The old Bayou Dog and I headed to the pier just before dark.  I had been working all day and really needed a break.  The cooling Bay breeze was just the thing to make me relax a bit.  Ms. Ez and I sat enjoying the sunset while listening to the bats fly above our heads.  For about a half hour this pleasantness engulfed our very thoughts but then hunger pangs started causing both our bellies grumble.  "Well, Ez, are you ready to head back?" I asked the old dog.  She answered with a wag of her tail and a slight yip.  "Alrighty then!  Lets go."  About halfway up the pier, I stopped in my tracks.  The three baby nutria rats were playing on the mudflats again.  Aww, they were so stinking cute!  I motioned for Ms. Ez to sit and I did the same. We were going to watch this bit of cuteness while it lasted!

  After a bit, I softly spoke to the rodents.  One immediately scampered into the marsh and peered at me with its beady eyes.  The other two froze.  Ok, this was promising.  I spoke again.  The smallest of the three eased out a bit closer to me.  It sat and stared as if trying to figure out if I was friend or foe.  Number two decided to join the first baby in the marsh edge but number three stayed behind and listened intently to my murmurs.  "Aww, you are a cute little rascal."  With that, Ms. Ez began to thump her tail on the pier boards.  She so wanted to dive out on the mudflats and play with her new found friend! She whined a bit which caused the little nutria to jump!  Bitty Baby raced to join its larger siblings.  All three sat and stared through the reeds at us.  I thought for sure the fun and games time was over for the night but Bitty Baby sneaked out for one last romp before scurrying back behind the others.  Off down the trail in the marsh they went!  Such fun!  Slowly but surely, I am making friends with the little critters.  Maybe I can train them to eat weeds instead of marsh!