The giant African snail can eat more than 500 different types of plants and agricultural products. When those are not available, they will eat flowers, bark, and even the paint and mortar of houses.
Image of Joe Raedle/Getty
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Image of Joe Raedle/Getty
The giant African snail can eat more than 500 different types of plants and agricultural products. When those are not available, they will eat flowers, bark, and even the paint and mortar of houses.
Image of Joe Raedle/Getty
Most snails move slowly, but these illegal gastropods cross the Atlantic at hundreds of miles an hour.
Customs officials at Detroit Metropolitan Airport recently found six live snails inside the suitcase of a traveler flying in from Ghana, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Friday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection shared a photo of six confiscated snails. Authorities said the creatures would be examined for further analysis.
US Customs and Border Protection
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US Customs and Border Protection
Agricultural experts confirm that the dark brown-striped creatures are indeed the African giant snail – an invasive, banned breed that the United States has been trying to eradicate from the country for more than 50 years.
While they may seem harmless, these land snails – usually about the size of an average adult fist – are is considered voracious pests that can eat more than 500 types of plants and products, including peanuts, beans, and cucumbers. When those are not available, they will consume flowers, bark, and even the paint and mortar of houses.
The giant African snail is also known to carry parasites that can lead to meningitis and other diseases in humans. And they reproduce quickly, laying up to 1,200 eggs in a year.
When the snails were found wild in southern Florida in the 1960s, it took more than 10 years and $1 million to exterminate them. They were found to have invaded the state again in 2011, kicking off another decade-long eradication effort.
Over the years, the animals have stubbornly re-emerged in the US – in part because they are a local delicacy in West Africa. When cooked properly, these snails can be used as finger foods or bar snacks, Miami member station WLRN report back in 2013. They are also sometimes kept as pets, the USDA said.
Today, African giant snails are thought to live in the wild in Florida, Hawaii, and parts of the Caribbean, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
If you stumble across these creatures, federal authorities recommend contacting your local department of agriculture or a local branch of the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
