STATE'S LAST INVASION WAS 1966 AFTER A BOY BROUGHT BACK SEVERAL FROM A VACATION IN HAWAII

If you think they’re yummy and that getting genuine wild ones—as against farmed ones—for your stew is increasingly difficult due to environmental factors like bush burning, you may want to catch the next flight to Florida, United States. Authorities in the sunshine state have been issuing statements and putting state organs on alert due to a snail “invasion”. Even the scientific community has been holding emergency symposia on how to deal with the matter. The Daily Mail reports that 117,000 Giant African snails have been caught since September 2011, when they were first spotted. The snails can grow as big as rats—yes, Nigerians know that.

What is causing angst in South Florida is the serious threat posed to agriculture and even human habitat by the crawling creatures. They can attack “over 500 known species of plants” and can chew through stucco, which contains the calcium it needs for shell growth. The state of Florida is cautioning young residents to stay away from the snails and to not be fooled by the “cute” exterior and mistake them for pets. The Giant African land snails do carry a parasitic rat lungworm—because they eat rat faeces—that can potentially lead to illness in humans, mostly meningitis, although no cases have been discovered yet in the US.

For more:
http://www.234globe.com/story/333/Florida+Battles+Giant+African+Snail.html

lol. Serious. Florida is so susceptible to "invasions" from non native species (due to their climate I guess). They have bigger problems...crocs, burmese pythons etc...I won't be moving to the gulf coast anytime soon.

I like snail sauce, reading the story scare the living hell out of me. Meningitis and Lungworm i saw some at the Africa store I visited with a friend last week, the price was high so i did about turn . Not sure if they brought it from their dealers in florida or straight from Ghana

Juan_De_Dios: STATE'S LAST INVASION WAS 1966 AFTER A BOY BROUGHT BACK SEVERAL FROM A VACATION IN HAWAII
The state of Florida is cautioning young residents to stay away from the snails and to not be fooled by the “cute” exterior and mistake them for pets. The Giant African land snails do carry a parasitic rat lungworm—because they eat rat faeces—that can potentially lead to illness in humans, mostly meningitis, although no cases have been discovered yet in the US.

What is the meaning of this nonsense?
I have been eating snails for years and I haven't gotten any parasitic rat lungworm (is that even a real sickness)?
I hope this is not another propaganda information to make Africa look like a disease infested continent.

I enjoy snail meat to the fullest, especially in palmnut soup. The next time I'm back in yankee, Florida here I come. Hey, I can even export some back to West Africa.

^^

Na so u go put local snail farmers out of business. Who no wan chop imported snail?