14 DAY TRIAL // Wildlife researchers and other specialists in Florida must now figure out a way to rid the state of an invasive species that stands to wreak havoc on its natural ecosystems. The species now said to constitute a major threat to Florida's biodiversity is the Giant African land snail.
Information shared with the public says that, since September 2011, when a specimen belonging to this species was first sighted in this part of the United States, and up until present day, over 100,000 such snails have been caught and killed all across Florida.
As reported on several other occasions, Giant African land snails can grow to impressive sizes, and do not shy away from feeding on roughly 500 different plant species.
Therefore, their being present in such large numbers in Florida has researchers worried that both natural ecosystems and agricultural lands will end up being badly damaged.
Daily Mail says that these snails need also be seen as a threat to public health. Thus, it appears that they can serve as carriers for a parasitic lungworm that can ultimately cause people to become ill.
Despite the fact that no such cases have thus far been reported in the United States, researchers recommend that people do their best to keep their distance from such snails.
The same source informs us that, for the time being at least, authorities are unable to say how it was that the Giant African land snails made it into Florida in the first place.
However, they suspect that they were either purposely or accidentally released into the wild by a group that used them in religious rituals back in 2010.
On the other hand, it is also possible that the snails were brought to Florida by people who traveled to their native lands at some point in the past.
“If you got a ham sandwich in Jamaica or the Dominican Republic, or an orange, and you didn't eat it all and you bring it back into the States and then you discard it, at some point, things can emerge from those products,” a spokesperson from the Florida Department of Agriculture told members of the press.
Only last week, specialists met at a so-called Giant African Land Snail Science Symposium.
The purpose of the meeting was that of explaining how the mollusks made it to Florida and of determining what could be done in order to rid the state of their presence.