Germany responds to 'crayfish plague':

Seems like they are freaking out over these little red beasts without a plan until now. Eat the damn things. hah

"Just eat them already, news station reports"

"Germany has decided on a novel approach to dealing with its "crayfish plague,'' the nation's international public broadcaster, DW.com reports. Berliners will now be allowed to eat crawfish.

"Populations of the Louisiana crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), originally from the southern USA and northern Mexico, have taken on plague proportions since last summer in lakes in the Tiergarten and Britzer Garten parks in the German capital,'' DW.com reported.

The German government theorized the crawfish were probably introduced to the country by someone dumping pets into a park.

"The permission to catch the creatures, which runs to the end of 2018, was given after Berlin environmental authorities ascertained that they did not contain dangerous levels of heavy metals or other toxins."

A small family-owned fishery from Berlin's Spandau district has received a permit to sell the crawfish to restaurants and individuals, DW.com reports.

The German news agency suggests this method of cooking crawfish: clean them in salt water, then put them live into a large pot of boiling water already seasoned with salt, cayenne pepper, lemon, garlic, onion and bay leaves.

nola.com