Giant Snails Invade Miami

Seriously, these snails can carry a rare form of meningitis.  Do not touch them and call the authorities!

The snails contain both male and female reproductive organs and typically lay 1,200 eggs a year.

Floridians also battled the slimy mollusks in the late 1960s. A boy smuggled three snails on a flight and raised them as a pet. His grandmother grew tired of them and released them into her garden, Feber said.

“It took the state 10 years to eradicate and it was a million dollar eradication program and that was in the late 1960s, early 1970s,” Feiber said. “Eighteen thousand snails were collected.”[ABC]