If you think Nutria or AKA Coypu are kind big friendly over grown rats, well scratch kind and friendly. They are pests and highly destructive. Here is what one does when it moves into YOUR neighbourhood and mine. This is in Frisco, Texas. It’s not a matter of can do… does is the correct action word.
You can see he (she?) is big, by how high it can reach to strip bark. This amount of damage took three days. Actually just two nights, but the third night it just sort of tidied up loose ends (of bark) a bit. I did not clean up around the tree for the photos. The nutria rat did it all.
I haven’t seen the critter yet. However, I don’t think it is a beaver because the existence of nutria is well known in this area and are usually seen in our suburban small lakes.
I tried to stay up to spot it but how long can one stare at a tree in the dark? The gnawing took place sometime between midnight and daylight, about 6:00 AM.
UPDATE 5/26/12 Animal control people (credentials unknown) on a hearsay report from a neighbour, spotted the critter(s) near the concrete dam that divides our upper lake from the lower lake. They say they saw a beaver. Could be. Until I see it myself or a picture of the capture I’ll stay with nutria although there is a strong case for it actually being a beaver. They look a lot alike except for the tail. Most tree gnawing is credited to beavers.
Doesn’t matter what it is. It’s all about what it is doing to the trees and not it’s species. I have 1/2″ hardware cloth around my trees and so do many neighbours. We are hopeful they will go for easier targets. Several other trees have already been attacked and gnawed. I say stop trying to figure out what it is and just catch it. I wouldn’t complain about harsher treatment.