Coypu: Myocastoridae

The fur of coypus is valued for its soft, velvety texture and people in South America, North America, Europe, and Japan eat the meat. Much of the meat and fur from South American comes from captive coypu breeding farms while in the United States it comes from coypus hunted in the wild, especially in Louisiana and Maryland.

In the 1930s, coypus were introduced into southeast England and the population there quickly grew. Coypus were blamed for destroying native marsh plants along riverbanks and raiding cultivated crops. Their burrows were also believed to weaken and damage river and stream banks. In the 1980s, the British government began an intensive campaign to eradicate (remove completely) coypus from England and in 1989, the government officially declared the program a total success with the killing of the last coypu.

There are eradication efforts underway in the United States, Japan, and France.