When Giant Snails AttackJanay Rickwalder
Thursday, May 9, 2013
reports surfaced that South Florida was fighting a growing
infestation of giant African land snails – one of the world’s most
destructive invasive pest species. Now, it looks like these snails
are on the move and heading west to the Lone Star state. According
NBC News, a Houston resident recently found one of the snails
in her backyard garden.
USDA says the giant African land snail can “consume at least
500 different types of plants, can cause structural damage to
plaster and stucco, and can carry a parasitic nematode that can
lead to meningitis in humans.”
It sounds like a scene from a horror movie, but these mollusks
can grow to be as large as a rat and researchers are concerned they
could spread disease.