The Snail from Hell

It’s a veritable cat in the hat as far as exotic invasive species go, and federal officials are making sure, darn sure, none of these critters are left to cause the sort of pestilence that occurred almost four decades ago in Florida.

Federal health officials have seized several giant snails, known as Giant African Land Snails, from Wisconsin school classrooms and have begun a nationwide search to find others.

The snails not only reproduce rapidly but can make minced meat out of an ecosystem, going through plants like a rabbit in a cabbage plant. If that isn’t bad enough, the snails’ mucous may harbor meningitis.

Florida officials learned this lesson the hard way in 1966 after a Miami boy smuggled three of these giant snails into the country. His grandmother eventually released them into a garden. Within only 7 years there were more than 18,000 of them. Eradication efforts took more than 10 years.

Officials are concerned the snails, as large as a person’s hand, could escape into warm climates and cause the same sort of environmental havoc.

Posted by Jim Langcuster at April 29, 2004 10:42 AM | TrackBack