Giant African land snails, which are potentially deadly to humans, have made their way to Houston, Texas, where a woman discovered one chewing through her garden.
Autumn Smith-Herron, director of the Institute for the Study of Invasive Species at Sam Houston State University, told a reporter from KPRC-TV, the local NBC affiliate, that she suspects many Houston residents will be so intrigued by the 8-inch gastropods they won't be able to resist picking them up.
"Unfortunately," Smith-Herron said, "They carry a parasitic disease that can cause a lot of harm to humans and sometimes even death."
A parasite known as the rat lungworm, the most common cause of meningitis, has been found in the slime of the huge slugs.
Mark Fagan, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Agriculture, was quoted by National Geographic that "if a person comes in contact with the snail, the nematode present can then enter the person's body, eventually making its way into the brain."
The KPRC report included a statement from the Texas Institute for the Study of Invasive Species, which said that so far, "no infected snails have been confirmed in the United States."
But it's just a matter of time before the snails eventually feast on infected rat droppings.
Believed to have originated in East Africa, the snails have since established themselves throughout the Indo-Pacific Basin, a large swath across the globe that includes the Indian and Western Pacific oceans.
The snails colonized the Hawaiian islands some time ago.
Known to be one of the world's most invasive creatures, one of the slimy creatures can lay as many as 1,200 eggs a year.
It's unclear how the snails ended up in Texas, but the snails have already overtaken parts of Florida after a boy several years ago carried three of them back from Hawaii to keep as home pets.
One report in Nature World News said the snail population in seven years exploded to an estimated 18,000 and cost the Sunshine State over $1 million and 10 years to eradicate the pests.
That doesn't account for the 78,000 snails state wildlife officials reported they recently rounded up, in a battle to save the state's agricultural industry, which could well be devastated by the voracious critters, who have been reported eating stucco walls throughout Miami-Dade County.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the snails have been known to devour at least 500 different types of plants, including cassava, cocoa, papaya, peanut, rubber and most varieties of beans, peas, cucumbers and melons.
Then aside from the stucco walls, the snails have also been caught eating through concrete.
Officials are encouraging anyone with potential sightings to contact the Texas State University System's Study of Invasive Species at 936-294-3799, or visit the program's website at www.tsusinvasives.org.