Man says he mistook snorkeler for nutria

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Man says he mistook snorkeler for nutria
By Rebecca Nolan
The Register-Guard
Published: Friday, February 9, 2007

REEDSPORT - A man charged with shooting a Smith River snorkeler in the head told detectives he mistook the swimmer for a nutria, the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said.

William Roderick, 60, of Reedsport was arraigned Thursday in Douglas County Circuit Court on charges including second-degree assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of methamphetamine and marijuana. He was being held in the Douglas County Jail in Roseburg on $700,000 bail.

advertisement Roderick is accused of shooting 44-year-old John W. Chessman of Marcola once in the head as he snorkeled about 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Chessman remained in serious condition Thursday in the cardiac intensive care unit at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland.

Roderick told detectives he was taking care of a house on Lower Smith River Road when he saw what he believed to be a nutria swimming in the river, sheriff's spokesman Dwes Hutson said.

He grabbed a .22-caliber rifle and shot at what he thought was a large, water-dwelling rodent from a deck, he told detectives. He soon realized the rodent was in fact a man and ran to the river to help pull Chessman from the water. Chessman was conscious and able to speak after the shooting, Hutson said.

Witnesses drove Chessman to the Lower Smith River scale shack near Highway 101. From there, an ambulance took him to Lower Umpqua Hospital in Reedsport. He was later transferred to OHSU.

Roderick led detectives to the gun, which he had thrown into the river after the shooting, Hutson said.

He was convicted of felony drug possession in 1987 and therefore should not have had a gun in his possession, according to state court records.
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LOL....he threw the gun in the river. Wow, just wow. Could this guy have done anything else wrong.....he needs locked up for the rest of his life.
 
Good golly man, you have rats that size of men:what:
They give us a hard time down here because we have cockroaches the size of mice, but we don't have any man sized rodents (except the kind that walk on two legs).
They'd better let you carry weapons.
 
Pardon my ignorance, but what is a nutria and how big do these things get?
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You're not alone...I have no idea what they are. :uhoh:
The Random House College Dictionary says "resembling beaver". :scrutiny:
 
nutria.jpg
 
I think I saw one of these on the golf course, behind my house. I thought it was a muskrat, now I'm not so sure.

Why would this idiot want to shoot a nutria?
 
Introduced for the fur trade

Since wearing fur is Verboten they were turned loose to burrow into the local canals and levees, thereby weakening them. To combat the problem a Louisiana think tank decided to create a whole cuisine based on nutria to both promote their State and eradicate this pest from their fragile wetlands.
Sad to say that southerners will eat deep fried twinkies, but not deep fried rat.
BTT- A felon, under the influence, in posession of a gun. Nice!!!
 
Essentially they are a water rat about the size of a large beaver. You can hunt them in Florida. I doubt I could eat one. But I'd bet someone does. "Someone" eats everything. :)
 
My wishes for a speedy and complete recovery go out to Mr. Chessman.

Now, what we need here is a law to keep guns out of felons...What...Oh, never mind...:rolleyes:
 
William Roderick, 60, of Reedsport was arraigned Thursday in Douglas County Circuit Court on charges including second-degree assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of methamphetamine and marijuana. He was being held in the Douglas County Jail in Roseburg on $700,000 bail.
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Drugs and guns don't go too well together.
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did it say he was under the influence? unless he was , it's a moot point. Booze and guns don't go together either , if your actually drinking that is .

Btw the article says he was in possession of a firearm , but was it his? He was watching a house for someone . Was it THIER gun? If so , can they be charged with furnishing a firearm to a felon ? Or maybe negligence for not having it locked up ?

Not defending what the guy did , but sometimes people seem to "jump the gun" and make comments without knowing all the facts .
 
Does anyone read the post?

..when he saw what he believed to be a nutria swimming in the river, sheriff's spokesman Dwes Hutson said.

He grabbed a .22-caliber rifle and shot at what he thought was a large, water-dwelling rodent from a deck, he told detectives. He soon realized the rodent was in fact a man and ran to the river...
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I had never heard of a nutria either, but the article provides enough info that I get the idea.

Provided, of course, you actually read it. :rolleyes:

Jumping the gun, indeed...
 
Nutria are no more rats than squirrels are. Same general family, but too many steps removed from the species, kind of like a lemur and a human, not very close. I've never had nutria, but those critters are pretty big and, as they eat grass, probably have pretty good meat. I'll eat squirrels any day and if somebody was serving nutria, I'd try it. Beaver steaks are pretty good, and if you'll notice, beaver and nutria look related. Indeed, they share the same habitats and are known to cause the same damage to levees.

Ash
 
Moreover, the top of a man's head and the back of a nutria are actually very similar (I've seen them swimming). And, considering that nutria can get pretty big, and their size is more compact, their appearance in the water can be very similar, sans the snorkel, of course. The idiot broke every rule when it comes to shooting, of course. You never shoot at anything unless you are sure of what it is. Worse, a .22 can kill a nutria, but not very quickly.

Ash
 
I am surprised this was in oregon. Nutria are like so many other alien plants and animals that get introduced in a new environment and thrive. Germany has a raccoon (an american critter) problem. Like the nutria, boa constrictors in florida, snakeheads (from China) they were consciously imported and either turned loose or escaped. Guam never had snakes but they have hitched rides on airplanes. One big melting pot of a world, not just for people but for plants and animals too.

People hunt and eat rabbits and squirrels and they are somewhat socially acceptable. The guinea pig was breed in the Incas as a tasty snack. Still rodents. Some places in the world street vendors sell skewered rats on the street like hot dog vendors do here. Don't know about the taste but I would bet it is a healther meal. I would try nutria but maybe that is just the cajun in me. Justin Wilson had a joke about a mama crawfish taking her babies out to see the world. They saw and ran from a dog and a cow. Exasperated the mama said children stop that if we are going to make any time. They continue and suddenly mama runs. The children catch up and say Mama mama whats wrong? Children? Yes mama. Do you see that creature there? Yes mama. Thats a cajun, he'll eat any damn thing.
 
At gun camp a retired detective from Louisana asked me where I was from. I replied "Lafayette", not saying the state.

He thought it was Lafayette, LA, not Lafayette, IN. He replied, "Do you shoot neutrinos there (he actually said nutria, but I had no clue what those were)?"

I replied, "No, I work downtown, the research park and Purdue where they do that stuff is in West Lafayette."

We were both totally confused for about 10 seconds. Talk about two guys talking past one another.:D :D :D
 
Ash said:
Moreover, the top of a man's head and the back of a nutria are actually very similar (I've seen them swimming).
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That's very true. It's always good common sense to use a snorkel that's brightly colored, or has an orange reflector on top. And who the heck goes snorkeling in Oregon in February?

And nutria are definitely pests -- I've seen first hand the erosion and damage their burrowing causes. Had one living in a dry ditch behind the house way up here in North Mississippi. The ditch is about twice the size it was when the sucker moved in.
 
http://www.nutria.com/site.php for all your nutria needs :neener:

Seriously though how big are the nutria in his neck of the woods? Was the snorkler a midget? Seriously how in the heck do you confuse a rodent with a human? The NYC rats aint even that big and they are bigger then my dang cats.
 
Lupinus, it's like the old guy that killed a kid around here a few years back. Kid was hunting groundhogs, so was old guy. Kid was crawling through high grass, old guy sees groundhog moving through high grass. Turns out it was kid's head. I'm sure all that was visible was a wet hairy head (partially submerged?).

Not that that excuses it mind you.:(
 
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