Plano Takes Aim At Swamp Rat Infestation
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PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) - It's a city better known for high-dollar homes and top-class schools, but Plano has been waging a secret war for the past several years.
The enemy is big, ugly and has been slowly destroying one of the city's largest parks.
They were as common a sight along the Chisholm Trail as people jogging or walking their dogs.
But nutria, also known as swamp rats, are a large aquatic rodent which has mostly disappeared from the large creek that runs through a Plano neighborhood.
The city recently built new retaining walls because the nutria were creating so many holes in the ground it was caving in beneath people.
"It was unsafe for people to walk along the banks of the creek because you never knew when it was going to fall in," says Bill Dakin, Plano's project manager and landscape architect.
The $3 million project should prevent the creatures from burrowing along the sides of the creek, Dakin said.
"They have big red teeth some people were actually scared of them, but they were fun to play with," said Meral Michial, a Plano resident.
The massive project also included new piers and steps that lead down to the water so people can still fish and interact with the wildlife.
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