Giant African Sanils Invade South Florida

Its bad enough Florida is dealing with a huge population of wild pythons, now in South Florida they are dealing with a new problem, giant African snails. The snails can eat through almost anything including stucco, hard plastic recycling bins and their shells are hard enough to blow-out a vehicle tire if run over.

The giant African snail carries a human parasite called rat lungworm, a form of meningitis. The disease is deadly, but no humans have been reported infected so far. The snails multiply fast too; one snail can produce 1,200 eggs per year for up to 9 years. The invasion was first discovered in 2011 and hunters collected more than 117,000 that year. The state is working to eradicate the giant snails in fear of it invading Florida crops, which would be the worst-case scenario.

Cnn.com