By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
Following an alleged sighting of nutria – semiaquatic rodents originally from South America – near the Dore River, The Goat reached out to the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship to ask the likelihood of nutria spreading to northern B.C. The animals are almost certainly not nutria, the Ministry said in an email statement.
“While the warming effects of climate change could improve the chances for nutria to survive in these climates in [the] future, at this time it is unlikely that nutria would survive winters farther north in B.C.,” the statement reads. “They are very sensitive to cold temperatures.”
Nutria have been found in the lower Fraser Valley and Salt Spring Island as recently as the ‘90s, and there is an established population in Washington state just south of B.C., according to the Ministry. However, surveys conducted in 2017, 2022, and 2024 via wildlife cameras and hair-snagging stations did not find any nutria, the statement continues.
“Many people are surprised to find what they think is a nutria is actually a muskrat or even a beaver,” the statement added. In response to questions about how to distinguish nutria from native species such as beavers and marmots, the Ministry sent a fact sheet about nutria which includes a list of their telltale features. Unlike local rodents, nutria have bright orange front teeth, long white whiskers, and hold their tails still while swimming, according to the fact sheet.
