FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. — A concerned Action News Jax viewer recently sent us a video of several nutria swimming in and crawling around a retention pond by the Clay County soccer fields in Fleming Island.
Action News Jax spoke to several neighbors, who say it's not unusual to spot nutria in the area, because there is a lot of water nearby.
One neighbor Action News Jax spoke to said that she has seen them in the retention pond behind her home on several occasions.
"They actually look like a huge gopher-like animal. Most of the time, when you see them, they are kind of standing up, you know, on their back feet with their paws up," says Jeanie Riley, who has lived in Eagle Harbor for nearly a decade.
Riley says that she usually sees them early in the morning or at night when its cooler outside.
She also tells Action News Jax that she can tell they have been in her retention pond even without spotting them.
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"They eat the banks of the ponds behind the house, and it can do quite a bit of damage," says Riley.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission usually receives complaints about unwanted animals in residential areas, but they say this year, they have only received two complaints about nutria statewide.
FWC also pointed out that because nutria aren't protected, they can be hunted all year long.
Many people trap nutria themselves if they become a nuisance or call pest control companies to take care of the issue.
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FWC sent Action News Jax an article which names nutria as one of the most invasive species in the world.
It says combining their high reproductive rate and lack of population controls, nutria have been known to cause severe damage in southeastern states and along the Atlantic coast.
"You can just tell where part of the bank bed gets eroded, and it's just bad for the environment," says Riley.
She also tells Action News Jax that the neighborhood where she lives does a great job of addressing complaints of unwanted animals in the area and will contact appropriate companies to come and trap them when they get out of hand.