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Lawmakers Learn How To Kill Snails

The Giant African Land Snail.
Nick Evans

State wildlife officials are working to eradicate the Giant African Land Snail.  And lawmakers learned something new Thursday—just how they get the job done.

Agency representatives are making the rounds this week, explaining annual budget requests before legislative committees.  Derek Buchanan from the Agriculture department asked House lawmakers for funding to address citrus greening, laurel wilt—which attacks avocados, and eradication of the Giant African Land Snail.  Rep. Kristin Jacobs (D-Coconut Creek) asked what eradication looks like.

“There’s a lot of debris removal from the areas where these things would stay and hide,” Buchanan begins.  “There’s also chemical treatments—I think it’s literally called sluggo, or that was one of the treatments we’ve use in the past.  So we put out bait stations to attract the snails and kill them, we also have detector dogs who go out and hunt these snails down.”

Buchanan says 21 of the 29 hot spots for the pest have been snail-free for over a year.  The department wants access to about $2 million for the program.

Nick Evans came to Tallahassee to pursue a masters in communications at Florida State University. He graduated in 2014, but not before picking up an internship at WFSU. While he worked on his degree Nick moved from intern, to part-timer, to full-time reporter. Before moving to Tallahassee, Nick lived in and around the San Francisco Bay Area for 15 years. He listens to far too many podcasts and is a die-hard 49ers football fan. When Nick’s not at work he likes to cook, play music and read.