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Nutria Removal in Lafayette
Nutria are an invasive rodent, and their burrowing collapses the banks they live in.
Nutria are a genuine Lafayette problem rather than a curiosity. They work the coulee banks and pond edges, undermine them, and the first sign is usually a collapsing bank or a blocked drainage run rather than the animal itself.
Nutria in Lafayette Parish: who does what
Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries is explicit that it does not remove nuisance wildlife. It permits individuals to do it for a fee. A Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator permit is issued to a person rather than a company, every individual doing the work must hold one in their own name, and getting it requires a Louisiana trapping licence, a basic hunting licence, and 80 per cent on the department's exam. The permit also lists exactly which animals may be taken, raccoon, squirrel, opossum, skunk, armadillo, beaver and nutria among them.
The Lafayette Animal Shelter and Care Center lends traps for wildlife: residents sign a loan agreement on a weekday between 8 and 5, and an officer collects the trapped animal.
For identifying an animal or damage before anyone is paid to look, the LSU AgCenter, Lafayette Parish office is at 1010 Lafayette Street, Suite 325, Lafayette, LA 70501 (office page).
What Louisiana law says about nutria
Landowners or their designees may remove nutria damaging their property in daylight without a special permit, by any means, but nuisance nutria taken outside the trapping season may not be sold. Operators may not relocate nutria: they must be euthanized within 12 hours. All Louisiana rules →
Sources: Lafayette Consolidated Government, Animal Shelter FAQ; LDWF: nuisance nutria and beavers; Louisiana Administrative Code Title 76 (wildlife and fisheries); Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Nuisance Wildlife Control and Removal. Checked October 2026.
Signs, and why they matter
- Burrow entrances in a pond bank, canal edge or drainage ditch at or just above water level
- Slumped or collapsing bank and eroded bulkhead footing
- Grazed-off vegetation right down to the root along the waterline
- Bank and levee collapse, which is a serious problem for anything built on top of it
- Undermined bulkheads, culverts and drainage structures
How removal works
Trapping along established runs and slides, then repairing and armouring the bank so the next animal cannot re-establish the burrow.
Nutria questions
How much does nutria removal cost in Lafayette?
Varies with site access and water level, depending on access and whether young are present. After a long stay in an attic the cleanup is often the bigger bill (attic restoration).
Is there a wrong time of year to deal with nutria?
Year-round. Nutria breed continuously, so populations rebuild fast if the habitat is left attractive.
Who handles nutria in Lafayette Parish?
The Lafayette Animal Shelter and Care Center lends traps for wildlife: residents sign a loan agreement on a weekday between 8 and 5, and an officer collects the trapped animal.
Request a quote
We read every request and pass it to a licensed wildlife operator covering Lafayette where one is available. We are still building our list of operators here, so we cannot promise one is available or say how quickly they will respond.