The alert in Port Richey, Florida. The animal, coming from Africa, destroys plants and cultivated land, but it can also transmit a dangerous parasite that can cause meningitis in humans, the lungworm of mice
An entire area of Florida – that of Port Richey, Pasco County – will have to stay in pseudo quarantine for the next three years due to the invasion of giant weed snails from Africa.
These invasive creatures are indeed capable of transmitting a parasite dangerous to human healthcalled lung worm of micewhich affects the pulmonary passages and can lead to meningitis.
Swirling reproduction
The giant snails
they destroy plants and cultivated land (they feed on over 500 plants) and also pose a threat to plastic objects and concrete constructions (animals consume building plaster and stucco, identified as a source of calcium, creating for damage to infrastructure).
They are native to Africa, they can reach one length up to 20 centimetersthe size of an average mouse and reproduce in a whirlwind: they can in fact produce up to 2500 eggs ann
or and the population difficult to control. Each snail contains both female and male reproductive organs. After a single mating, each snail can produce 100 to 500 eggs. These snails can reproduce many times without mating again and can spawn broods of eggs every two to three months.
In the United States It is illegal to own giant snails as pets but some owners of exotic animals raise them in secret but if they escape or get lost in the land they can cause damage very quickly.
It is forbidden to move the plants
Unlike the quarantine imposed for example for the coronavirus, residents of the area are simply prohibited from moving plants, soil, yard waste, debris, compost and building materials outside the demarcated area.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) confirmed that the animal settled in the city of Port Richey, just north of Tampa, on June 23, and the area was quarantined the next day. Anyone who sees the giant snail must urgently warn the Department of Agriculture and avoid touching it with their hands due to the real risk of meningitis.
According to Christina Chittyinterviewed by Cnn responsible for communication of the FDACS it will take at least three years to eradicate the giant snail population in the county.
Not a new problem
The presence of giant snails is not recent, but has now reached significant dimensions. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, land snails were first spotted in South Florida in the 1960s and it took nearly 10 years and $ 1 million to clear them from the area.
In 2011, a parasite population was discovered in Miami-Dade County. Only in 2021 was the population completely eradicated.
Snails are also difficult to eradicate because they have no natural predators as well each snail can live up to nine years.
The Florida Department of Agriculture has started a battle against snails which, beyond quarantine, involves the use of a treatment to eradicate this pest which consists of a pesticide called metaldehyde known to control snails and to be safe for plants and fruit.
July 5, 2022 (change July 5, 2022 | 13:29)
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