Invasive swamp rodent spotted in 5th California county

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Wildlife officials say an invasive swamp rodent has been killed in San Joaquin County, putting the destructive nutria near the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

The Sacramento Bee reports that a nutria was killed on agricultural land west of Stockton. It’s is the fifth county where the animal has been spotted since it was discovered in California in March 2017.

State and federal wildlife and water officials fear nutria could get a foothold in the ecologically fragile Delta, which supplies water to 25 million Californians and millions of acres of Central Valley farmland.

Native to South America, nutria can reach up to 2.5 feet (1 meter) in body length and 20 pounds (9 kilograms) in weight.

A female nutria can give birth to more than 200 offspring within a year of reaching reproductive maturity.

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Information from: The Sacramento Bee, http://www.sacbee.com