Giant African Snail: Creature Killed To Protect Crops, Biosecurity Threat

It might look like a character from "Men in Black" or some other Sci-Fi skit, when in fact, that's right folks-this thing is actually real. It's a Giant African snail, also referred to as Lisachatina Fulica.

According to reports, this monstrous creature can grow up to a food in length and weight up to 2 pounds. This particular specimen - about the size of a cricket ball - was quickly destroyed by Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry.

"Giant African Snails are one of the world's largest and most damaging land snails," DAFF regional manager Paul Nixon said in a statement. The Brisbane Times reports that the "pest has an insatiable appetite and is capable of destroying 500 types of plants, including vegetable crops, fruit trees, and Australia's native eucalypts"

''Australia's strict biosecurity requirements and responsive system has so far kept these pests out of Australia and we want to keep it that way," said Nixon.

Located in Florida, the Giant African snail is expected to become an invasive species. The first snails were discovered and reported by a Miami homeowner in September 2011. In just six months, APHIS and FDACS have collected more than 40,000 of these giant creepy crawlies.

Originally from East Africa, the snail established itself throughout the Indo-Pacific Basin, including the Hawaiin Islands and has been introduced into the Caribbean, according to reports. Some believe that the snails may be illegally smuggled into the

According to Reuters, the last major encounter with these snails in Australia was in Queensland, in 1977, when authorities destroyed 300 of them during an exhaustive eight-month campaign.

This snail was humanely destroyed by biosecurity officers, and the authorities reported that they found no evidence of any other snails or eggs.