According to family legend, my grandfather and his brother, after realizing that they were knee deep in a losing venture, released their nutria in western Washington State in the early 1960’s. They had been raising the rodents to sell for their fur, which would be made into coats and hats. Since my grandfather died before I was born, I have never been able to fully corroborate these events. However, this episode has forever been emblazoned in my mind as both an act of short-sighted ecological vandalism and a sign of humanity.

Here in Seattle, a number of homeowners who live along the banks of beautiful Lake Washington are up in arms over the invasive nutria problem. The more I thought about the issue, the more I found myself siding with the ugly and the hated, those of the order Rodentia.

Unless we can say we are descended from one of the many American Indian tribes that have historically and pre-historically inhabited North America, we are all invasive species. And actually, if you want to go back far enough, the American Indians who probably entered North America over the Bering Strait were invasive, too. Where does one draw the line?

I’m not opposed to people and animals moving, migrating, adapting, ranging or roaming. Nor am I in favor of introducing foreign and possibly harmful creatures into new habitats. My aim is just to say, “Hey, look in the mirror before blaming all your problems on rodents and other easy targets.”