Giant African snails that are known to grow to the size of a tennis shoe continue to roam around in southern Florida, according to TIME.
The snails, which have been eating hundreds of plant species and the stucco off houses in the area, have failed to disappear despite Florida’s $10.8 million Giant African snail eradication program, which was launched in 2011, according to Discovery News.
Officials reportedly spent 10 times more than they spent to wipe out the snails’ invasion of Florida in the 1960s.
“The fact is they’re a human and animal health threat and they’re a threat to Florida’s agriculture,” state agriculture department spokesman Mark Fagan said.
“We can’t let the population continue.”
Over 158,000 giant African snails have reportedly been removed in the past four years, with the last sighting reported in April, according to officials. Two years must reportedly pass since the last snail is found alive in the wild for the state to declare the species eradicated.
Officials reportedly tried to kill the giant snails with organic pesticides, but failed. They then reportedly switched to a molluscicide containing metaldehyde, which kills them 95 to 100 percent of the time.
Snails reportedly climb trees to avoid the chemical pellets on the ground, stated Florida Department of Agriculture scientist Mary Yong Cong, who has observed the behavior of the snails.
“They are very curious,” stated Cong.
The snails can reportedly disappear for months, hibernating below grounds, only to resurface in hurricane season when it is warm and wet.
