Getting rid of nutrias - and the various ways of dispatching them - may not be the best subject for a column like this, but it did come up in the Mailbag last week.

(If this makes you squeamish, better go on to the rest of the page now.)

Shirley Hiebert of Albany wrote and asked for help with what she said were "many nutria" living in an undeveloped and brushy area behind her duplex in southeast Albany.

A digression: I was stumped wondering about the plural of nutria. It sounds as though it is already a plural, and most people use it that way. But a trip to the encyclopedia showed that the proper plural is nutrias.

Anyway, the contributor in the Dec. 15 Mailbag was concerned that this was a health issue, especially for children, and about the cost of hiring a trapper.

Readers responded quickly, as soon as the paper came out. They called the paper because they couldn't find the writer in the phone book. We had inadvertently transposed the I and the E in her name.

The owner of a business near Timber-Linn Memorial Park offered to help. He has plenty of experience with nutria extermination, having developed a system of trapping the animals and then putting them down with gas.

Someone else called and said the prices quoted in the letter for trapping the nutrias and getting rid of them seemed a little on the high side. Sounded like he would do it for less.

A North Albany resident came in and said he also used to have a problem with nutrias. He solved it by trapping them and drowning them in a trash can full of water.

A former veterinarian called and warned that the health hazard from a nutria infestation is not to be taken lightly. The animals' droppings contain tapeworms, she said, and any contact could spell trouble for children and pets.

Someone mentioned stabbing nutrias with an ice pick in their traps.

Drowning or stabbing trapped animals sounds inhumane, if nothing else. People resort to that sort of thing because in the city it is unlawful to shoot them with a firearm.

It's easy to see why the police, not to mention the neighbors, would be concerned about householders going around and taking potshots at stray nutrias with their 10/22s or, heaven help us, handguns.

But aside from the risk to humans and the unsettling sound of gunfire, shooting them would seem quicker and more humane.

Evidently, though, it would not be unlawful for archers to get into the act. Someone said that a suggestion had been made - whether in jest or otherwise I don't know - to recruit volunteer bow hunters and crossbow experts for an organized hunt.

Doesn't sound practical. But if nutrias really are a widespread nuisance with implications for public health, the city or the county might want to consider an effective and humane program to eradicate them once for for all.

The editor can be reached at 812-6097. Check out his weekday morning video update, D-H Today, at democratherald.com.