© Wikimedia Commons/Sonel.SAThe giant African land snail is causing problems for Floridians.
Florida plant detectives are on the trail of a slippery foe, an invasive African land snail that is wily, potentially infectious, and can grow as big as a tennis shoe.
In the four years since Giant African Snails were discovered in Miami, they have slowly but surely spread to new territory, alarming residents in the southern suburbs and the neighboring county of Broward.
Their slimy tracks have led agricultural experts on an odyssey of discovery about animal behavior, folk religion and the precise amount of chemicals and cash it takes to kill the world's biggest gastropods.
Since 2011, Florida has spent $10.8 million on the Giant African Snail eradication program, according to state agriculture department spokesman Mark Fagan.
That is 10 times more than officials spent to wipe out the snails' last invasion of Florida in the 1960s, an effort that lasted an entire decade.
And there is still no end in sight.
Comment: Has there been an increase in volcanic activity recently? Actually, the number of volcanoes erupting right now is greater than the 20th century's YEARLY average!
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