Over 20,000 dead river rats washing ashore after Isaac
Isaac has left another mark on the Gulf Coast as the hurricane has left thousands of nutra aka Coypu aka “River Rat” on shores of Mississippi’s Hancock and Harrison counties.
“Estimates are there will be over 20,000 carcasses,” Robbie Wilbur, spokesman for the state’s department of environmental quality, told NBC News.
“Ratatouille” photo Remy the rat photo/Pixar
Residents are concerned about the health hazard.
“It’s a terrible smell,” David Garcia, mayor of Waveland in Hancock county, told WLOX-TV. “As this heat continues, they’re just going to blow up and pop, making it even more of a health hazard.”
Crews over the weekend started removing the nutria, aka swamp rats, though it’s not an easy task.
“As they’re picking them up, they’re busting open,” Hancock County Supervisor David Yarborough told the Biloxi-Gulfport Sun Herald.
A federal contractor with experience in hazardous waste has been brought in, but even a handful of its workers had quit Sunday morning, the Sun Herald reported.
“There’s people who can’t take the sight of something like this,” Yarborough said. “That’s the reason I wouldn’t even attempt this with county people. You really should be certified and trained in hazardous waste.”
County crews tried to deal with a similar situation after Hurricane Gustav in 2008 “and we had people getting sick; wound up buying everybody’s clothes,” he added.
