(ANSA) - BELGRADE, MAY 24 - The Slovenian authorities plan to remove nutrias from the Ljubljana Marshes, citing them as an invasive alien species that has spread to the point of threatening ecosystems and indigenous species of animals and plants, the Slovenian news agency STA reported. However, the plan has provoked an angry response from a part of the public in Slovenia. A petition urging a stop to the nutria kill and applying sterilisation as an alternative measure has been signed by more than 19,000 people since last Friday. The Agriculture Ministry has approved trapping of the animals by means of live traps, as regular trapping alone is no longer a sufficient method to control the nutria population, nor is sterilisation, STA informed. (ANSA).