Their chubby cheeks lend them an appealing look, but Italy has declared war on its growing population of coypu, beaver-like animals that have thrived since escaping from fur farms decades ago.
The large rodents dig dens in river banks and levees, causing flooding that damages crops.
Regions across the country are rolling out eradication programmes, encouraging hunters to shoot the animals and recruiting volunteers to set traps. Lombardy has committed €200,000 to the campaign against the coypu this year, while neighbouring Veneto has set aside €100,000.
The creatures are a particular problem in the rice paddy fields of the Po Valley. They have adapted well to different habitats and can often be seen in the middle of Rome, nibbling on sedges on the banks of the Tiber.
No one knows how many coypu there are living wild in Italy but in Emilia-Romagna alone, there are believed to be around a million, while Lombardy has around 1.3 million, with the regional government calling for 300,000 to be culled each year.
