The United States Customs and Border Protection just caught six animals attempting to enter the country via the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, and it’s no surprise, as they were moving pretty slowly.
Six Giant African Snails were discovered inside the suitcase of a traveler from Ghana, who arrived in the U.S. last week, the agency shared in a press release.
The snails are considered a “prohibited organism” in the country, despite being eaten and even kept as pets in other countries.
“Our CBP officers and agriculture specialists work diligently to target, detect, and intercept potential threats before they have a chance to do harm to U.S. interests,” said Port Director Robert Larkin. “The discovery of this highly invasive pest truly benefits the health and well-being of the American people.”
The snails once called the United States home, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture shared that it took $1 million and 10 years worth of work to eradicate the species from Southern Florida in the 1960s.
According to the Department of Agriculture, the snails reproduce quickly, laying up to 1,200 eggs in a year. The department also described them as “one of the most damaging snails in the world.”
The agency shared that the snails found last week were intended for direct consumption but added that they pose a significant health risk to humans and the environment.
Giant African Snails are known to carry “a parasitic nematode that can lead to meningitis in humans and due to an appetite that includes at least 500 different types of plants,” the agency shared.
The agents with the Customs and Border Protection seized the snails after they were discovered in order to conduct further analysis.
The agency did not share what happened to the traveler who was carrying the snails or the creatures in its press release.
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