On behalf of the City of Prague, our organisation also deals with the overpopulation of coypu. 

The coypu comes from South America and is a non-native species in the Czech Republic. Because it has no natural predator here, it breeds uncontrollably in our countryside. A female has up to 15 young a year on average, and those are themselves fertile at the age of 5–6 months. Coypu destroy the vegetation along the water, undermine the banks of streams and reservoirs with the long burrows, several metres deep, that they dig in them, and push out native species of aquatic animals. On top of that they can pass infectious diseases such as leptospirosis, salmonellosis, brucellosis or tularaemia to domestic animals and to people. In the city they often live alongside rats, which can increase the risk of transmission further. Another problem is that they have grown very used to living close to people — and to being fed by many of them — and have lost their shyness. In recent years there have even been cases of coypu biting dogs and people. We have been reducing their population in Prague since 2014.