New Orleans infested with wildlife

NEW ORLEANS - Alligators have been dragged from abandoned swimming pools. Foxes had to be removed from the airport. Coyotes are stalking rabbits and nutria (a sort of countrified rat) in city streets. And armadillos are undermining air conditioning units.

In the year since Hurricane Katrina drove out many of the people of New Orleans, wild animals have been moving in. Some were blown in by the winds or redistributed by the floodwaters. Others were drawn by the piles of rotting garbage and by the shelter afforded by all the abandoned homes and tall weeds.

"In 20 years of trapping animals here, I've never seen anything like it," said Greg duTreil, who is licensed by the state to remove nuisance wildlife in the metropolitan area. "I'm getting calls night and day."

Marilyn Barbera said opossums are living under her home and in her garden, and one moved into her house, a white 1859 Greek Revival in the city's Riverbend area.

"It was about the size of a big cat and it just made itself at home," she said.

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