Giant African snails

[JTSimon]

Federal health officials have seized several of these Giant African Land Snails from Wisconsin classrooms.

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MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) -- Federal health officials have seized several dangerous pests called Giant African Land Snails from Wisconsin classrooms and have started a national search for the creatures, which reproduce rapidly, destroy plants and can transmit meningitis.

The snails, which are illegal to have in the United States, were used in classrooms by unwitting school officials, said Willie Harris, eastern regional director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Safeguarding, Intervention and Trade Compliance Program.

Snails have been seized in the past month from Wisconsin cities including Big Bend, Menasha and Milwaukee. Officials so far have not found any others elsewhere.

They are concerned the snails, about the size of a person's hand, could be transported to states with warmer climates, where they can rapidly reproduce and destroy plants.

In 1966, a Miami boy smuggled three Giant African Land Snails into the country. His grandmother eventually released them into a garden, and in seven years there were more than 18,000 of them. The eradication program took 10 years, according to the USDA.

Five of the snails donated to Nicolet Elementary School in Menasha by a parent were seized after teachers learned they were illegal, said the school's principal, Linda Joosten.

"They were very cool creatures," Joosten said.

The snails, native to Africa but also found in parts of Asia, are known to consume as many as 500 different plants and their mucous can transmit meningitis.

Snail smugglers can face fines of up to $1,000 per charge. Harris said people who have the snails without knowing they are illegal will not face punishment.
lol stupid Miami boy funny stories of how creatures make it to the US.


http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/04/27/bc.giantsnails.ap/index.html

[smerlus]

i caught one of these fish while fishing in the upper niagara river...i read in the NYS fishing guide that these are pests and they should be killed if you catch one but i decided to spare the creatures life....only later did i found out why they were to be killed.

[Don Seer]

^ why?

[Neji Huga]

^ why?

Yeah Why?

[West C. Connected]

Yeah why lol

[Don Seer]

ok, its a round goby (got that from the pic url..)

apparently they were imported accidently in the ballast tanks of big ships that have crossed the ocean.

they're agressive lil fish that fight for the best spots

[West C. Connected]

Oh okay.






















.......So why again?

[Don Seer]

lol... coz they aren't supposed to be there.. and because they fight off the fish that are supposed to be there, driving em away from the food.

[Neji Huga]

Oh, I thought it attacked him or something. At least that's how he made it sound.....

[West C. Connected]

FISH-SLAPPED, BITCH.



Anybody heard of those lil' leeches that can go in your dick if you piss in the river?

[Xan.G]

yeah lol, mutherfukkers swim up yo piss & ya got to have it amputated lol.

scarey shiit...

[smerlus]

ok, its a round goby (got that from the pic url..)

apparently they were imported accidently in the ballast tanks of big ships that have crossed the ocean.

they're agressive lil fish that fight for the best spots

they reproduce faster than most native fish, they eat far more than their size, and they can see relitively well in the dark.

so pretty much they hunt and breed 24 hours a day

[West C. Connected]

yeah lol, mutherfukkers swim up yo piss & ya got to have it amputated lol.

scarey shiit...

Picture your ex-girl putting 50 of those things in your toilet.

Oh yeah, they were called Candira's or something, something with a C.

[Trauma-san]

As slow as Shaq is on the court, I consider him a giant African Snail.  

[MANBEARPIG.]

ok, its a round goby (got that from the pic url..)

apparently they were imported accidently in the ballast tanks of big ships that have crossed the ocean.

they're agressive lil fish that fight for the best spots

they reproduce faster than most native fish, they eat far more than their size, and they can see relitively well in the dark.

so pretty much they hunt and breed 24 hours a day

thats how I want to live my life for now on