Fur-wearers, dealers say Louisiana’s nutria make
‘beautiful’ coats
22-11-2009 By Laura McKnight Staff Writer, Houma Today, Louisiana, USA
HOUMA — They’re not the most attractive creatures in the south Louisiana marsh. Nutria in the wild certainly don’t enjoy the admiring, star-struck crowds that surround the alligators and water birds.
Al Mahler poses with a nutria fur hat Wednesday inside Big Al’s on Grand Caillou in Houma.
But strip the marsh-gnawing rodents of their blaring orange teeth and webbed feet, and the pelt that remains can draw a gaping audience.
“I was a big hit in Minnesota with this nutria fur coat,” said S.P. LaRussa, owner of LaRussa Real Estate in Houma — and owner of a golden-brown, knee-length nutria coat. LaRussa wore his nutria coat to Minnesota in 2001 to watch the New Orleans Saints take on the Vikings in an NFL playoff match.
LaRussa stayed at the same hotel as the Saints, so when he arrived, a crowd of photographers were outside awaiting the arrival of the players.
But the cameras started flashing at LaRussa after one of his traveling companions announced “Do you know who this is? This is the Nutria Man from south Louisiana.”
“I had more pictures taken of me than the Saints,” LaRussa said.
The large, furry coat also drew attention in the stands, where he and friends sat surrounded by fans of the opposing team.
“The only thing that kept us alive during the ball game on the Minnesota side was my nutria fur coat,” LaRussa said.
When people spot a nutria, they often see an orange-toothed freak, a plant-eating pest. The creatures, imported here from Argentina, represent an invasive species fingered as culprits in speeding deterioration of local marshlands, because they feast on plants that hold the fragile wetlands together.
But boy, do these odd-looking invaders make a lovely coat, some say.
“It’s a soft, supple fur,” said Edmond Mouton, biologist program manager for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
South Louisiana’s lush marsh habitat allows nutria here to produce soft, plush undercoats comparable to those of more-luxurious creatures like otter and mink, Mouton said. The nutria’s guard hairs - the longer, coarser hair that protects their undercoats - are removed before making most garments, leaving a pelt that amazes people with its softness, he said.
Argentina sells nutria pelts for lower prices, but the quality doesn’t measure up to Louisiana pelts because of habitat differences, he said.
Louisiana nutria fur, which most closely compares to that of a beaver, can be used for coats, hats, vests, blankets and linings for various garments.
“They pluck out that long hair, and they make you a beautiful coat,” said Louis Pitre of Galliano, whose son, Tab, now runs the family fur business, Pitre Fur, which still sells nutria pelts. “It’s a gorgeous coat.”
In the late 1940s, muskrat ranked as the most abundant fur produced in Louisiana, according to Nutria.com, a Web site run by the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. That changed by the 1950s, when nutria topped muskrat both in numbers trapped and pelt value. At the Louisiana fur industry’s peak in the 1960s and ’70s, nutria often reigned as the top fur producer.
Mahler Inc., one of the largest fur businesses in Louisiana, handled otter, mink, raccoon, possum, fox, muskrat and bobcat pelts, but “nutria was the main fur,” said Big Al’s restaurants owner Al Mahler, whose family owned the company.
Despite its good looks, nutria fur, along with the fur of other local animals, has long enjoyed more popularity outside of Louisiana than within, especially overseas.
That partly results from the warm climate here. For example, LaRussa said he has only worn his nutria coat here once or twice.
Local fur companies, including Mahler Inc., would typically send nutria pelts to places like New York and Germany, where they would sell to fur-buyers there.
A steady fur demand in Europe, particularly Germany and Russia, helped keep the Louisiana fur industry afloat for decades. Nutria pelts appealed strongly to middle-class Russian families as a good-quality yet less-expensive fur, according to Mouton.
S.P. LaRussa poses inside his Houma office Tuesday wearing a nutria fur coat that he has owned for many years.
Every once in a while, companies like Mahler Inc. and Pitre Fur would send nutria pelts off for processing, then get them back as coats to sell to local buyers.
Some bayou residents, including Al Mahler, use nutria fur for hunting hats. Hugh LeBeouf of Thibodaux said he hopes to secure an extra-large, somewhat raggedy nutria coat to dye Hunter’s Orange and sport when deer-hunting. “Animal fur is the quietest thing there is going through the woods,” he said.
On the rare occasions when Houma area residents wanted fur coats, they would usually head to the Mahlers, often to Al’s father, Kearney “Bobby” Mahler or to Shoes, Furs and Fashions, a Houma store run by Al’s mother and sister in the 1970s.
LaRussa said he bought his nutria coat in the mid-1980s from Bobby Mahler, in exchange for about six alligator skins produced on his property.
“What attracted me to the coat was it wasn’t full-length,” LaRussa said, adding that the long hairs left on the coat give it a more masculine look.
Usually, local buyers wanted mink or fox coats, but the Mahlers sold some nutria coats here, said Al, who worked at the fur company in the early 1980s.
Pitre Fur has sold about 15 to 20 nutria coats to bayou residents throughout the years, and Louis Pitre had them made for each of his four sons. Some south Lafourche residents still wear the coats, he said. About five years ago, Pitre also sold nutria coats to car salesmen in the New Orleans area.
The fur industry took major hits in the 1980s, and fur prices dropped too low to make trapping viable for most Louisiana trappers. Mahler Inc. started by Al’s grandfather, Alidore Mahler, and his sons in the late 1930s, closed in the 1980s. Now, the much-slimmer amount of Louisiana nutria fur sold goes to China, Mouton said.
Internet users can find nutria coats online, including Louisiana furs sold by a few companies like Canadian-based Bayou Furs, but spotting one on store racks is “highly unlikely,” Mouton said.
But state wildlife officials, fur-industry diehards and even artists are striving to bring nutria fur back into fashion.
Cree McCree, the New Orleans artist, hopes her new fashion line, Righteous Fur, creates a revival for the rat through nutria-fur vests, swing coats, bags and hats.
“It’s still available, and it’s still promoted,” Mouton said.
(Bron: http://www.houmatoday.com/)
(Bron foto's: Houma Today)
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