Giant African Snail Sighting In Florida Leads To Quarantine

We've all heard stories about invasive Burmese pythons in the state of Florida. Now, it sounds like the state's delicate ecosystem could be facing a new threat: the giant African snail.

One of these invasive bad boys was spotted in Broward County, Florida. I can't imagine these things are hard to miss, because they're exactly what they sound like, they're just bigass snails.

However, it's not their size that has people concerned (although, I'm a little concerned about it) it's what they can do to plants. According to NBC News, giant African land snails are "one of the most damaging snails in the world."

This would explain why the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services set up a quarantine around part of Miramar, Florida to contain the heinously over-sized mollusks.

These snails aren't picky eaters and will happily chow down on 500 different types of plants which would have a huge impact on tropical plant life. Additionally, they carry the parasite rat lungworm, which is just an all-time horrific name.

Seeing as I live in Florida, I hope they contain these monsters. Seriously. Going out to your car and finding a snail the size of a NERF football stuck to it would be enough for me to hire movers that afternoon.

Maybe we can figure out a use for these things. I'm guessing since they carry rat lungworm, these snails aren't edible.

A local resident of Pasco County, Jay Pasqua, holds dead giant African snails which he found in his backyard in New Port Richey, Florida on July 21, 2022. - It might not be speedy, but it's big, hungry, and fast at reproducing: the giant African snail, a potential health risk to humans, has once again invaded the southern US state of Florida. Since June 23, employees from Florida's Department of Agriculture have been combing through the gardens of New Port Richey, a small town on Florida's west coast where the invasive species has taken root. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

That's a shame because I love me some escargot.

Love it. But only when it's bite-sized. Not when you have to carve it up like an Easter ham.

That's significantly less appetizing.

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