When the first shipments of pelts from nutrias raised in captivity 

 arrived in the raw fur markets, nutria farming began to decline. The 

 size and quality of these skins were so inferior to those taken in the 

 wild, and the prices received for the fur were so disappointing, that 

 many breeders abandoned the venture immediately and others followed grad- 

 ually* So ardent and persistent had been the pursuit of the animal for 

 the monetary value of its fur that little or no time was devoted to a 

 study of its life history or habits. Breeders soon began to realize that 

 much serious study and experimental work were necessary before a profit- 

 able business could be developed. Very few had the courage to undertake 

 the task. 



Some nutria farms continued but they were conducted mainly as centers 

 of redistribution, and the principal business of these so-called nutria 

 farms was to hold animals taken in the wild for exportation as breeding 

 stock. 



Experimental nutria farming in Argentina extended over a period of 

 V-> years and proved a costly undertaking to those who set out to raise 

 nutria in captivity. They learned reluctantly that more money was spent 

 in equipment, feed, and labor than could be realized from the sale of 

 the fur. 



By 191+0, practically all the nutria farms in South America, Europe, 

 and the United States had discontinued business, but a few continued on 

 a shoestring basis. Some of the breeders in the United States became so 

 disgusted that they turned the nutrias loose or allowed them to escape 

 into the wild so as to preclude feeding and caring for them. 



IMPORTS, RELEASES, AND ESCAPES IN UNITED STATES 



The earliest record of nutrias imported into the United States was 

 in 1899* Will Frakes brought from South America one mature male and 

 three young female nutrias to Elizabeth Lake, California. Frakes kept 

 them in small pens for two years but no young were produced and there is 

 no datum available reporting his experiences with these fur animals. 

 As a matter of record Frakes did send a specimen to the National Museum, 

 Washington, D. C, in 1900. 



A nutria farm was established in the Green River area of Washington 

 about 1932. An unprecedented flood swept this area in 1935; floating 

 logs punctured the woven wire fences enclosing the nutrias, and they 

 escaped into the wild. A pair of nutrias from the Green River farm was 

 given to another enthusiast who desired to raise these fur animals in 

 this same period, but having no success, he liberated them. Still 

 another farmer, located on the south end of Lake Washington near the 

 town of Benton, had nutrias in captivity and tried for 7 years to raise 

 them. After Pearl Harbor he was drafted, but before he joined the 

 armed forces he tried to sell them. He failed and in desperation turned 

 them out into the marsh areas adjoining his farm. 



