{"id":29198,"date":"2014-07-15T06:57:41","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T05:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=29198"},"modified":"2014-07-15T06:57:41","modified_gmt":"2014-07-15T05:57:41","slug":"giant-african-snails-from-nigeria-confiscated-in-los-angeles-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/giant-african-snails-from-nigeria-confiscated-in-los-angeles-airport\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant African Snails From Nigeria Confiscated in Los Angeles Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1405399207156_12516\">\n<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1405399207156_12515\" role=\"main\">LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Inspectors at Los Angeles International Airport seized<br \/>\nan unusually slimy package \u2014 67 live giant African snails that are a<br \/>\npopular delicacy across West Africa.<\/p>\n<p>The snails \u2014 which are prohibited in the U.S. \u2014 arrived from Nigeria and<br \/>\nwere being sent to a person in San Dimas, said Lee Harty, a spokeswoman<br \/>\nfor the U.S. Customs and Border protection.<\/p>\n<p>The snails were confiscated July 1 and a sample was sent the next day to a<br \/>\nfederal mollusk specialist in Washington, D.C., who identified them as a<br \/>\nprohibited species, Harty said.<\/p>\n<p>The mollusks are among the largest land snails in the world and can grow<br \/>\nto be up to 8 inches long. They are native to Africa and can live for up<br \/>\nto 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture incinerated the snails after they were<br \/>\ninspected, Harty said. The animals are prohibited in the U.S. because they<br \/>\ncan carry parasites that are harmful to humans, including one that can<br \/>\nlead to meningitis.<\/p>\n<p>The snails are also agricultural pests, said Maveeda Mirza, the CBP<br \/>\nprogram manager for agriculture.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These snails are seriously harmful to local plants because they will eat<br \/>\nany kind of crop they can get to,&#8221; Mirza said.<\/p>\n<p>The person the snails were destined for is not expected to face any<br \/>\npenalties, Mirza said. She said authorities are investigating why a single<br \/>\nperson would want so many snails.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re investigating what happened, but it doesn&#8217;t seem like there was<br \/>\nsmuggling involved. When someone doesn&#8217;t know a commodity is prohibited<br \/>\nunder USDA regulations there is usually no punishment,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Although the agency has found one or two snails that may have accidentally<br \/>\ngotten into a traveler&#8217;s luggage in Los Angeles, this is the first time<br \/>\nthat they have confiscated the snails in such a large quantity, Mirza<br \/>\nsaid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1405399207156_12587\"><\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Inspectors at Los Angeles International Airport seized an unusually slimy package \u2014 67 live giant African snails that are a popular delicacy across West Africa. The&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Giant African Snails From Nigeria Confiscated in Los Angeles Airport - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/giant-african-snails-from-nigeria-confiscated-in-los-angeles-airport\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Giant African Snails From Nigeria Confiscated in Los Angeles Airport - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Inspectors at Los Angeles International Airport seized an unusually slimy package \u2014 67 live giant African snails that are a popular delicacy across West Africa. 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