Rather bold nutria (big river rat) swimming in front of the kayak. Ever since the State of Alabama (ADCNR) started promoting the sport of killing of one of the main preditors of nutria (big alligators), the nutria population has been increasing.
Years ago I used to see plenty of alligators in Dog River and no nutria. Today I see plenty of nutria and no alligators. But, the State of Alabama does get to rake in fees from people who want to kill the big docile lizards. First the state gets a hunting license fee and then another fee for an alligator tag. Nothing like allowing the senseless slaughter of alligators to supplement the State's income all under the guise of calling big alligators a threat to public safety.
I cannot remember the last time in the past 40 years that an alligator attacked a person in Mobile. But dogs sure have been attacking and hospitalizing people. Several vicious dog attacks this year alone, one almost killing a kid.
Why doesn't the State of Alabama have a hunting season on aggressive dogs which really are a proven threat to public safety?
Nutria are just big goofy-looking river rats with two huge ugly yellow front teeth. Kinda useless, but if they eat water hyacinths, they'd be good to have. Dunno if they do, tho. We used to kayak with big ol' alligators in Florida, and were never bothered by them.
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