Home/Nutria
Nutria Removal in Monroe
Nutria are an invasive rodent, and their burrowing collapses the banks they live in.
Nutria are the animal that makes this market different from everywhere else, and the damage is not what people expect. It is not the animal, it is the tunnelling: nutria burrow into banks, levees, pond dams and bulkhead footings, and the failure usually appears long after the animal has moved on. On the Ouachita and the bayous around Monroe that is a structural problem, not a gardening one.
Nutria in Ouachita Parish: who does what
Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries does not remove nuisance wildlife. It permits operators to do it for a fee, and the permit deliberately excludes four things: deer, bears, migratory birds and alligators. Those need a different route entirely. LDWF also does not lend or rent traps, though some parish animal control offices do keep them, which is worth knowing before you buy one and discover Louisiana requires a licence to use it.
Ouachita Parish Animal Services (417 Well Road, West Monroe; 318-325-0756) describes its job as public safety and health related to both domestic and wild animals.
For identifying an animal or damage before anyone is paid to look, the LSU AgCenter, Ouachita Parish office is at 704 Cypress Street, West Monroe, LA 71291 (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: Ouachita Parish Police Jury, Animal Control; LDWF: nuisance nutria and beavers; Louisiana Administrative Code Title 76 (wildlife and fisheries); LDWF, 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 Monroe?
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 Ouachita Parish?
Ouachita Parish Animal Services (417 Well Road, West Monroe; 318-325-0756) describes its job as public safety and health related to both domestic and wild animals.
Request a quote
We read every request and pass it to a licensed wildlife operator covering Monroe 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.