On the morning of the rivalry “Scatter Creek Showdown” football game between the Tenino Beavers and the Rochester Warriors on Friday, Oct. 27, staff discovered the carcasses of two dead nutria on the Tenino field.
Nutria, also called coypu, are invasive, semi-aquatic rodents that resemble beavers in nearly every way besides their rat-like tails.
“I mean, for all intents and purposes, they were essentially dead beavers on the field,” said Nick Bamer, Tenino’s athletic director.
The large, painted rock in front of the high school was also covered in Rochester colors by Friday morning, Bamer said, furthering suspicion that the nutria were left as a “rivalry thing between Rochester and Tenino that’s probably gone over the line.”
However, Bamer didn’t want to “fuel the fire” between the schools, and, at this time, said there is no definitive evidence the creatures were left by a Rochester student.
The Warriors took Friday night’s game 44-30, marking their first win over the Beavers since 2019.
“It's all cyclical,” Bamer said. “We've had times where we won the majority of events and then they go through spurts, too.”
The Rochester High School administration was notified and said they would look into it, Bamer told The Chronicle Tuesday morning. Local police were also notified, and Tenino is reviewing security camera footage from Thursday night and Friday morning.
“Like everybody’s, our cameras are limited,” Bamer said, later adding, “You know how kids are. They’re not gonna say anything for a while and then, in a week or so, somebody will talk.”
Tenino High School maintenance staff quickly disposed of the two carcasses, he said, so Bamer wasn’t certain what method was used to kill the animals.
A spokesperson from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said, due to the nutria’s status as an invasive, burrowing pest, the department doesn’t manage trapping or hunting, but it does recommend euthanizing the creatures.
“Shooting has been an effective (method) in eliminating small, isolated groups of nutria,” the department’s website said.
Beavers, on the other hand, can’t legally be trapped or killed without a permit. Beavers are considered a “keystone” species, meaning the health of the beaver population reflects the health of its wetland environment home.
“Nutria and beaver are really tough to tell apart. One of the best ways to tell them apart is that nutria have a skinny, long, rat-like tail. Beavers always have a flat, paddle-like tail,” said Shawn Behling, assistant furbearer biologist for Fish and Wildlife, in a previous interview with The Chronicle. “There’s a lot (of traits) that are similar about these critters. They definitely evolved for exactly the same niche, just on different continents.”
Fish and Wildlife prohibits ownership of nutria and encourages residents to report sightings. Among its recommendations for keeping nutria away are “harassment and repellent” using “loud noises, high-pressure water sprays,” and live trapping with sweet potatoes. No permit is required for live trapping.
Read more about managing the pests on property at https://bit.ly/nutria-wdfw under the “Preventing Conflict” tab.
