Thomas Gonzales in a still from the film.
After a while in Louisiana, you think you know nutria. Some reckless fur farmer let them get loose in the ‘30s, and eighty-odd years later here we all are, watching the whole of the coast turn into little orange-toothed critters. That’s the bones of the story, but the documentary, Rodents of Unusual Size, fleshes it out, offering a look at the ways our reluctantly adopted state rodent has not just changed the land, but wormed its endearingly verminous way into the culture. Combining modern animation for backstory with the inimitable voice and inflections of Cajuns on the front line of the battle against the nutria, the film is a must-see for anyone with even a passing interest in the nutria problem. There’s a little more Louisiana establishment-of-place than locals will need—did y’all know Cajuns like to have fun?—but the film overall is a welcome deeper look at our most dangerous but most nearly cuddly invader.
Thomas Gonzales, whose enthusiastic pursuit of the five-dollar-a-tail bounty keeps the lights on in his Delacroix Island home (elevated a dizzying seventeen feet), pauses over a heap of corpses to speak fondly of his “friends.” He may kill them by the score, but they’ve become a part of the place he loves, and they’ve kept body and soul together for him for years… it’d be hard for an outdoorsman not to develop some fondness for the voracious little guys. (Another nutria hunter has a pet nutria, Little Bit, who rides on the back of his bike in an adapted Tupperware storage container.) They’re here to stay, and even if we’re in the position of needing to kill millions of them, we might as well be a little fond of our prey. It’s worked for crawfish, and people have tried to make nutria another entry in the Louisiana “Gross Things that Taste Good” Hall of Fame. This gives Kermit Ruffins a chance to nearly steal the show by hosting a nutria cookout in front of his Mother-In-Law Lounge, but Chef Susan Spicer of Bayona gets the best line: “Nutria meat is really the zucchini of the animal world. It takes on the flavors you need.”
Watch Rodents of an Unusual Size at rodentsofunusualsize.tv.
