FOXSYLVANIA

–A mysterious creature has been reported around Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  Described as reddish, weighing about 200 pounds, and looking like a giant beaver, the animal may be a pig or a capybara, although game officials think it is most likely a nutria.

A  nutria sounds like a healthy ingredient in a breakfast cereal, but is actually a large rodent not indigenous to the United States, hailing from South America.  Thirteen nutrias were brought to the U.S. from Argentina in 1937, where they escaped confinement and multiplied like wildfire in a number of southern states, especially Louisiana.   Nutrias tend to reside near waterways, and are generally considered a destructive pest; they were originally imported out of interest in their fur.

The trouble with nutrias as an explanation for the unknown creature is that they don’t weight anywhere near 200 pounds, but are more in the ballpark of 10-20 pounds.  People, however, tend to exaggerate, and are often phobic about rodents, especially large ones…