Sixty-seven giant snails seized at LA airport

15 July 2014 Last updated at 01:30

Sixty-seven live giant African snails have been seized by US customs agents.

The snails, which are prohibited in the US, were found by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspectors at Los Angeles International Airport.

They arrived from Nigeria and were intended for a person in California, said Lee Harty, a spokeswoman for the customs agency.

The molluscs are among the largest land snails in the world and can grow up to 8ins (20cm) long, said officials.

The US Department of Agriculture put the snails in an incinerator after they were inspected, said Harty, because they can carry parasites that are harmful to humans, including one that can lead to meningitis.

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Giant African Land Snails Invading Miami: 117,000 Caught So Far (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

By Barbara Liston

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - South Florida is fighting a growing infestation of one of the world's most destructive invasive species: the giant African land snail, which can grow as big as a rat and gnaw through stucco and plaster.

More than 1,000 of the mollusks are being caught each week in Miami-Dade and 117,000 in total since the first snail was spotted by a homeowner in September 2011, said Denise Feiber, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Residents will soon likely begin encountering them more often, crunching them underfoot as the snails emerge from underground hibernation at the start of the state's rainy season in just seven weeks, Feiber said.

The snails attack "over 500 known species of plants ... pretty much anything that's in their path and green," Feiber said.

In some Caribbean countries, such as Barbados, which are overrun with the creatures, the snails' shells blow out tires on the highway and turn into hurling projectiles from lawnmower blades, while their slime and excrement coat walls and pavement.

"It becomes a slick mess," Feiber said.

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