Dogs Prove To Be Key In Battle Against Giant African Snails

NPR ^ | August 30, 2013 | Mark Memmott

[pgkdan]

LOL!

[Robert DeLong]

Wow, they really are big suckers.

[Ditter]

I has been several years since my dogs have found a turtle in the yard. Bobo, now deceased, was the best at turtle hunting. After he found one he would chew on the outer edge of the turtle's shell until I went out and stopped him.

[bicyclerepair]

I see little snails (smaller than a golf ball) in the backyard sometimes. They give me the creeps. I pour salt on it. But then the birds won’t eat it. So I either toss it in the garbage of just stomp it.

[atomic_dog]

Man I laughed so hard I spit Diet Dr. Pepper all over my keyboard. Thanks.

[dljordan]

“Turn a pack of Jack Russells loose. They’ll find anything.”

What they can’t kill they pee on.

[Hot Tabasco]

I almost never see the big ones let alone the new hatchlings.

while I guess they are native to Michigan, I've personally never seen one............all the others, yea, and even caught them.

[PLMerite]

Aw, that one left a tip!

[Palio di Siena]

Smuggled in from Africa...,

[Kenton]

[cripplecreek]

I didn't get a pic of the softshell but I'm always finding hatchlings.

[Hot Tabasco]

I kinda wish I had kids so I could take them out and hunt for all those cool things I used to find when I was young.....

[Calpublican]

More proof that dogs are better than cats!!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks nickcarraway.

...the snails eat about 500 different types of plants and can spread a parasite that causes a form of meningitis. Florida's agriculture commission adds that: "The snails can also cause structural damage to buildings; they consume plaster and stucco to acquire the calcium needed by the snails to grow their large shells. In large numbers, GALS can cause extensive damage." It's thought that the invasion began with the smuggling of a few snails into Florida by a man who practices a traditional African religion. He reportedly convinced some followers to drink the snails' juices. They became violently ill.