13 million snails put down

BARBADOS HAS DESTROYED over 13 million giant African snails in the last five years.
That development was revealed by Ian Gibbs, the chief entomologist with the Ministry of Agriculture. He was speaking at a seminar hosted by the US Embassy of Barbados at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic, where American entomologist Trevor Smith outlined Florida’s efforts against the giant African land snail.
“In many parishes on the island the snail population is significantly down,” Gibbs said.
“I would say it’s less than five per cent of the original population, but there are still some hot spots.”
Gibbs revealed that the giant African snail, which is not indigenous to Barbados, first came here on a shipment from St Lucia.