PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — The invasive giant African land snail continues to be a problem in Pasco County. As the Florida Department of Agriculture continues to work to eradicate them, in some cases, there have been new hurdles in addressing the issue.
Jay Pasqua runs East Richey Lawnmower and Equipment next to an empty lot that's been a hot spot for the snails.
Part of the reason could be the land behind it. Pasqua says FDACS hasn’t been able to get in touch with the owner to get access to the property, and eradicate the possible snail population.
"They have not been in contact with the person that owns the property," Pasqua said. "They're still diligently working at it, because they want to get in there, and based upon the ones that they've been finding just today alone, they're very eager to get in there.”
FDACS says it’s not a widespread issue, but it does cause problems.
"Some of the properties within the area are owned under either business names, or other entities that we have had a little bit of a harder time contacting owners, or the owner has not either been home or reachable by any phone email, or other means," Christina Chitty, the Public Information Director for the Division of Plant Industry for FDACS said.
In certain situations some of the properties that officials have been unable to gain access to are so overgrown, that it might be difficult to track down and eradicate the snails. The property near Pasqua's shop is so overgrown some of the weeds and greenery are over 6 feet tall.
“Typically we would mitigate that in some way," Chitty said. "In the past, in the Miami eradication, we have done debris removal and even, helped to acquire landscaping for the properties in order to make the effort effective."
In certain cases, if the property owner can’t be contacted, they eventually can turn to other avenues.
"At some point, we do have legal means to go through the warrant process to actually treat those properties, and go through other channels to find the owners of the properties," Chitty said. "But yes, we would not be able to declare eradication if a property that is required for treatment is not treated within a timely manner."