One day, when I was home with my aunt and grandfather, I heard a strange noise at the front door. It was like a strange cry for help, but didn't think much of it...a few months later, I heard it again, and my aunt, who was sitting a few feet away looked at me and we both said "did you hear that?" at the same time. Curious, I went to the front door to see what was up. I opened the door but couldn't see anything...until I looked down.

There he was, all by himself and no bigger than a tennis ball, looking up at me as if to say "what took you so long?". I opened the screen door a little bit and he kind of lumbered away, half running while tripping over himself. My aunt wasn't sure what it was, but I knew it was a baby nutria.

We lived in a typical residential neighborhood outside of Portland, and there was a small stream near our back yard. A few months earlier, my Dad and I had a full grown nutria visit us in the yard a couple of times while we were raking the fall leaves. It would just sit there and forage a bit. We hadn't seen it in a while...

The baby was all alone and I couldn't see any evidence of its mother in our yard. He was obviously alone, and it was winter time, and he would surely die on his own. Not sure what to do, I grabbed some gloves and put him in a box until my Mom would get home. He was terribly frightened and made the cutest little squeaking sound...and he had little hands! Our family collected all types of stray animals over the years, but this was probably the strangest...

Upon my Mom's return, we decided we would have to take care of him over the weekend until we could call someone to find out what to do with him. He wouldn't eat any vegetables or anything so we went to the pet store and got some rodent formula and a small bottle to feed him with. He took to the milk right away and within a day, he was comfortable enough to be petted. In fact, he would sleep in our lap, or burrow himself in between our neck and head if we were lying down on the couch.

We did some research and found out that Nutria are not native to Oregon, and not even the US. They were brought here for their pelts, but escaped early on, and soon their population got out of control, as they are harmful to small waterways and wetlands. They are being eradicated in many states, and we were told that our little Nutria would be eliminated...

So we decided to keep him and named him Peetie. Within a week he was already growing and so comfortable, that he would play with us and demand attention. He loved to wrestle, and when you got him on his back and rubbed his belly, he would put his little hands up by his face and make a funny squeaking sound! If you stopped and walked away he would follow you until you did it again. He would follow us around the house when we let him out, and that's when we started to learn how intelligent nutria are. I even taught him how to open the bedroom doors. He was growing rapidly, and he would ride around on our shoulders, or sit on our laps...He was the most loving animal I had ever been around. My dad took a special liking towards him, and would take him with him all over the house.

Eventually, I picked up a job in Seattle and moved out, and every time I came back to visit Peetie would be twice as big. One time I came down, and my parents had started letting him out of the house, like the cats. He would go out during the day and play in the stream or hang out with my dad in the yard, then come back at night when my parents called him in. I couldn't believe how big he had gotten, but he seemed to remember me, as I called him over in the yard, and came running over with his big floppy feet.

Later that day, as it was getting closer to evening, my parents called him in but he didn't come. It was a little early, and he was starting to venture a little further from the house. I was just hanging around, so I decided to go look for him, but I couldn't find him. A few hours later, it had gotten dark, and Peetie still hadn't come home. My parents were a little worried, as he hadn't been out that late before. We decided to go look for him, and went along the path near the stream calling his name. My parents were ready to give up, but I went off the path to get closer to the stream. I looked around and then felt something near my feet...

I shined the flashlight on the ground, and there was Peetie, lying on his back. I remember saying "you are not going to believe this", but I can't describe the feeling inside me, having to tell my parents what I saw. He was stiff and wet, with blood coming out of his nose. My dad ran over, and grabbed him. We took him back to our house, but it was too late. He was still warm, so it hadn't been long since he passed. We were all in shock, and my Dad was in complete denial, thinking he might still be alive. From what we could tell, it appears that he suffered a blow to the head, as if he was kicked or hit with a stick. It was a busy path, and Peetie was totally friendly toward humans, but who would do such a thing as murder a poor defenseless animal?

My Dad is the most stoic man I have ever met, but I'll never forget the first and only time I had seen him weep, the next day as he was holding Peetie in his arms before he buried him. He was sitting on the bench in our back yard, holding Peetie's body as if he was still alive. I watched him sit there for 2 hours before he put Peetie to rest. It was the most depressing day I can ever remember, and it was over a rodent. We had lost family members, and had some very hard times, but I had never seen my parents so distraught.

I went back to Seattle and cried for a very long time. My Mom told me that my Dad spent the next weekend building a coffin, and re-buried Peetie in it. I wasn't able to talk about it for quite some time, but all I can say is Nutria are the most loving and intelligent animals I have ever been around.