Urban Wildlife

Nutria, in the stormwater detention pond next to WinCo Foods off Pacific Highway in Tigard. You might think this is evidence of a healthy ecosystem, that animals are colonizing the pond, but in fact nutria are an invasive species, imported from South America. They damage the banks of the ponds, destroy vegetation used by native species, and compete for habitat. Cute, if you didn’t know that, though, and don’t think of them as oversized rats rather than similar to beavers.