The animal also threatens agricultural crops with its appetite, writes the American newspaper USA Today. A quarantine has been set up that extends for almost ten kilometers.
Very harmful
The animal was spotted by a gardener in late June, the Florida State Department of Agriculture reported. Scientists call the animal “one of the most harmful snails in the world.” They feast on hundreds of types of economically important products, such as papaya, peanut, rubber, beans, peas, cucumbers and horticultural, cultivated and medicinal plants.
Not first time
It is not the first time the snail has shown up in Florida. In 1966, the giant African land snail was spotted in downtown Miami. In 1973, more than 18,000 snails were found and destroyed, along with thousands of eggs, and in 1975 the snail was declared extinct. In September 2011, the snail was found again in Miami, but was declared extinct again in September 2021, the US Department of Agriculture said.
African giant snails, including the shell, can be more than 25 centimeters long and weigh up to 700 grams.
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