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Landscapers To Join Battle Against Giant African Land Snails

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami-Dade landscapers were educated Friday on how to battle a growing invasion of the Giant African Land snails.

The Miami-Dade Cooperative Extension hosted a workshop for landscapers at the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in order to teach them about the snails. They learned how to identify them, and what to do and who to contact if they happen to find them.

Identification and eradication are important goals of the county's plan to stop the infestation of these damaging snails.

The snails were initially discovered on September 8. Since then, the Florida Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been working together to figure out just how big the infestation has become.

So far, thousands of snails have been collected. Giant African land snails are considered to be one of the most damaging snails in the world. They were initially found in the Coral Gables area of Miami-Dade County.

The snail eats at least 500 types of plants and can cause structural damage to plaster and stucco on houses. It also can carry a parasite that can lead to meningitis. The snails transmit diseases to humans through consumption of raw or improperly cooked meat or by contact with human mucous membranes such as eyes, nose and mouth.

These snails could be devastating to Florida's agriculture and natural areas because they cause extensive damage to tropical and subtropical environments.

The last reported outbreak and eradication of the Giant African land snail in Florida occurred in 1966 when a boy smuggled three Giant African land snails into Miami as pets. The boy's grandmother released the snails into her garden.

Seven years later, more than 18,000 snails were found. It cost more than $1 million and took 10 years to successfully eradicate this pest from Florida. This is the only known successful giant African land snail eradication program.

It's not known how the latest outbreak started, but it's illegal to bring the snails into the US without a permit. Each snail can live as long as 9 years, and produce as many as 12 hundred eggs a year. They can grow to be 8 inches long and 4 inches around, much larger than your average snail.

The state is collecting snails when they are found, and is working through a program to use a bait called "Sluggo" to kill the snails. The bait is said to be harmless to people and pets, but lights out for slugs.

Anyone who believes they may have seen a Giant African land snail or signs of its presence should call the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services toll-free at 888-397-1517 to make arrangements to have the snail collected.

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