The Nicaraguan authorities pointed out this Tuesday to a retired soldier from Spain as responsible for having introduced the giant African snail to Nicaragua, considered one of the most important invasive alien species in the world, and for which the Central American country has declared a phytosanitary alert.
(Don’t stop reading: Nicaragua declares a phytosanitary alert for the seizure of a giant African snail).
“A Spaniard came (to Nicaragua). We have the photos where he appears with the giant snails, and he brought everything in a small glass, from the Costa Rican side,” said the executive director of the state Institute for Agricultural Protection and Health (Ipsa), Ricardo Somarriba, on Channel 8 of Nicaraguan television.
“He introduced them to the country and made a zoo-breeding facility, but that person did it on purpose, because he knew what the giant snail produced,” added.
The official indicated that he is a “retired soldier from Spain”, which he did not identify, although he said that he has his first and last name. “He says that he has to release the wild animals, but he also kills the wild animals,” continued the executive director of Ipsa.
(Also: River Lobster: An exotic visitor that can affect the health of pets.)
According to Somarriba, the retired Spanish soldier “has an arrest warrant in Costa Rica” and they have information that “he also ate snails.”
The day before, the Nicaraguan authorities declared “the phytosanitary alert device for the detection of the giant African snail (Achatinafulica)”, as well as a quarantine in the municipality of Ticuantepe, neighboring Managua, the city where it was found.
According to the Ipsa authorities, they have managed to collect 38,591 snails in a radius of 510 meters from where a zoo-farm had been built. Last week, the Phytosanitary Surveillance System intercepted a giant African snail in a zoo-farm illegally introduced into Nicaragua, according to Ipsa, which had initially identified “a tourist of Spanish origin” as responsible. who would have brought it “as a pet and for food purposes”.
According to the IPSA, the giant snail, native to Africa, is considered one of the 100 invasive alien species in tropical and subtropical areas, representing a risk to agriculture, the environment, and public health.
EFE
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