It measures no more than 20 centimeters and is not the fastest of animals, but its presence worries an entire county of Florida, in the United States. The giant African snail, a voracious and dangerous mollusk for humans, forced the authorities to launch an operation to eradicate it.
Since June 23, Florida Department of Agriculture employees have been walking through the gardens of New Port Richey, the small town in the west of the state where this invasive species was detected.
“The Giant African Snail [Achatina fulica] is an agricultural pest that feeds on over 500 different types of plants. So we’re concerned that it’s in our environment,” says Jason Stanley, a biologist at the Department of Agriculture.
This mollusk is a danger to agricultural fields and reproduces at great speed, as a single specimen can lay about 2,000 eggs a year, adds the expert.
Authorities suspect that this snail, originally from East Africa, arrived in Florida, in the southeastern United States, because someone brought it in to keep it as a pet.
“Their flesh is white compared to most snails of this type which are brownish, and this phenotype is very popular in the pet trade,” says Stanley.
A few feet away from him, Mellon, a dog trained to locate the snail, walks with his handler across a property in New Port Richey.
The labrador goes under a tree, rummages through the grass, sniffs, and when it spots one of its targets, sits on top.
With the help of him and another tracking dog, about 1,200 specimens have already been found in that area of ​​Pasco County, where efforts are being made to eradicate the invasion with metaldehyde, a pesticide harmless to humans and animals, according to Florida authorities.
danger to humans
The Department of Agriculture has also imposed a quarantine area in New Port Richey, from which plants and other plant material cannot be removed due to the risk of spread.
“Another problem with this snail is that it carries the rat lungworm, which can cause meningitis in humans,” says Stanley.
This parasite, detected among Pasco County specimens, enters the lungs of rats when they eat snails, and from there is dispersed by coughing rodents.
If a human ingests one of these worms, it usually goes to the brain stem and that’s where it can cause meningitis, explains the biologist.
Jay Pasqua says he still doesn’t believe the commotion caused by the snail. In late June, a Department of Agriculture employee went to his cutter sales and repair shop in New Port Richey to alert him to the presence of the invasive species.
“At first it was really funny to see all the attention,” says the 64-year-old. “But once we started to understand the growth process, how they got here and what diseases and problems they cause, it became a concern.”
He has since found dozens of specimens in his garden, though he hasn’t seen any for three days.
The giant African snail has been eradicated twice in other parts of Florida. The first was in 1975 and the second in 2021 in Miami-Dade County (southeast), after ten years of efforts and an investment of US$ 23 million dollars.
Stanley thinks this time will be easier. “It is currently restricted to one area and we are already monitoring and treating that area. So we have high hopes that it won’t take that long. [para erradicá-lo] here,” he says.
