A battle with this species of mollusks is ongoing around Florida, where the snails, one of the world’s most destructive invasive species, were introduced by a Miami Santeria group, a religion using snails in its rituals.
The Giant African Land Snails have no natural predator and can grow as big as a rat. They devour plants but at the same time are interested in any source of calcium, as stucco and plaster. If many such snails are in the one place they can cause structural damage to buildings. Those mollusks can carry a parasitic worm that can cause illness in humans and even a form of meningitis.
A mass extermination campaign was officially started with the participation of a team composed of 45 people. They will use Labrador retrievers because the dogs can be trained to sniff out the snails.
