Britain once had an estimated 200,000 coypus living across its wetlands and waterways. The large rodents had not always been part of the country's wildlife. People brought them to Britain for fur farming, but some escaped and established themselves in the wild.
By the 1950s, the animals had become a serious problem in parts of East Anglia. They fed on crops and wetland vegetation and became difficult to control. Earlier attempts to reduce their numbers had failed, with the population recovering after large-scale killing campaigns.
