Photo: Bobbi Zimmerman/AP
Forget zombie invasion! There's something scarier attacking Miami, Florida, slowly right now. Reeeeal slow. Behold the invasion of the Giant African Land Snails:
Read more over at NPR's All Things Considered: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/17/140540662/miami-invaded-by-giant-house-eating-snailsThey can grow to be 10 inches long. They leave a slimy trail of excrement wherever they go. They harbor the microscopic rat-lung worm, which can transmit meningitis to humans. And they will literally eat your house.
"They'll attach to the side of the house and eat the stucco off the side of the house," Gaskalla says. The snails are also attracted to garbage and pet food that's been left out.
Help the homeless in your community! (frankly, I'd bet if you cleaned them and made soup, you wouldn't be able to tell it from clam chowder. A mollusk is a mollusk, when it comes down to it. Maybe some fashionista can design highly popular 'green' faux-tortoise-shell accessories from the shell, too.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/jul/03/african-land-snails-video
They'd need careful handling when alive/raw if there's a parasite risk, but proper cooking kills parasitic worms (in any meat, not just snail!).