Neuty the nutria to appear on the Tucker Carlson show, family says

Myra Lacoste, one of the keepers of Bucktown’s beloved rodent ambassador Neuty the nutria, said she’s “going to be a nervous wreck.” Lacoste said she’s gotten word that a camera crew from the popular Tucker Carlson talk show plans to broadcast live from her home on Thursday evening.

Carlson, a Fox news conservative commentator, apparently wants to get to the bottom of this story about a folk hero of the invasive species. Lacoste said that a customer at her husband’s seafood shop was friends with one of Carlson’s writers, who arranged the video visit.

Lacoste said that if all goes as planned, Neuty might take a dip in the family pool or dance on his webbed hind feet, as he sometimes does.

Neuty is, of course, already an A-list amphibious mammal. The swamp rat has appeared repeatedly in the local press, and traveled from coast to coast via the AP wire. On Tuesday, Neuty was featured in the esteemed Wall Street Journal, further polishing his rising star.

The article, titled “Be on the Lookout for Rodents of Unusual Size With Orange Teeth,” was ostensibly concerned with the spread and eradication of the destructive critters that exacerbate wetland erosion. Maryland has apparently succeeded in wiping out the pests.

But, despite the WSJ’s hard-news thrust, Neuty’s cuddly backstory stole the story.

“Despite the havoc they wreak, nutria have a few fans,” reported the Journal. “A Louisiana couple recently made headlines when state wildlife officials tried to seize Neuty, a nutria they’d rescued from the roadside in late 2020 after its mother and siblings were killed by a vehicle.”