:theory-gary:
The snails pose a health risk to humans because they carry a parasite called rat lungworm, which can cause meningitis, Christina Chitty, a public information director at FDACS, told CNN.
:pete:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/03/us/giant-african-snail-florida-scn-trnd/index.html
Huh. Pretty sure I've seen these guys in a bunch of Finnish pet stores.
Never heard of them carrying deadly parasites.
Sounds like it's a bad idea to own exotic pets when you live in an exotic environment where they will survive just fine when some irresponsible lazy owner dumps them in their backyard
deleted by creator
it's not just the pet owners, hurricanes regularly bring animals over from the Carribean. There's a ton of species from there that have "invaded" Florida by just being swept there in a storm and trying to get by. this is how green iguanas or cuban anoles have established a population there. and about anything else that winds up in Florida, it's just the perfect environment for tropical reptiles, fish, amphibians, insects, or in this case molluscs. and climate change will mean that a lot of these species could move northwards soon.
They should clearly only allow exotic pets from more temperate regions instead :think-about-it: