You can see a picture of this snail at

http://freespace.virgin.net/darren.biggs/Caresheets/Inverts/Giant%20African_
snail.html


----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Yoshimoto" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2004 1:27 PM
Subject: Giant Killer Snail Story


To all those interested in the Giant Killer Snail Story, mentioned by Kay
Peterson the other day.
        After hours of searching my files and contacting friends, I have
retrieved the story of the killer snails.  What the date was, I am not sure
as a copy of this was given to me by the famous Cypraeist, Lindsey Groves,
of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.  I used the article
last summer in the Lost Coast Shell Club display at the Humboldt County
Fair, with specimens of the mentioned Achatina achatina that had been sent
to me by my sister when she was in Sierra Leone.  It makes a great display
and it did attract a lot of attention and questions.
Dan

192 People Eaten Alive!
Two Villages Wiped Out
By Giant Killer Snails!!!
By Scorry Paul
Special to the Weekly World News
Hundreds of giant snails are on the rampage across West Africa,
devouring everything in their path, including plants, animals,
women and children.
        "They surround their helpless prey and close in for the kill.
Nothing survives their huge appetite.", said Police inspector Zambou Retta.
"I have seen the horror that they have left behind."  The ravenous beast
are the size of a large rat, eat about one fourth of their body weight
daily and produce about 1000 offspring every month.  They hunt in packs
that often number in the hundreds.
                "They wiped out two villages near the town of Balala and
Kalabana, northeast of Freetown, Sierra Leone.", said the inspector.  "We
have only found one survivor and half of his right arm had been chewed
off."  The huge slimy snails are silent assassins who sneak up on their
unsuspecting victims and catch them off guard.  They are a larger species
of the Achatina achatina, commonly known as the Banana Rasp Snail.  "They
attack like Piranhas, leaving nothing behind but the skeleton of their
victims.", said inspector Retta, who interviewed the lone survivor of the
Katabana slaughter, Ali Abdel Bekele, before he died.  An estimated 12 men,
21 women and 30 children were attacked and eaten as they slept in the
village of Kalabana.  "They were all over us before we knew what was
happening!",   Bekele told the Police, before he died. Witnesses say that
Bekele lost his wife, son and father in a matter of minutes.
        At least 103 more people died in the surrounding villages, along
with dozens of horses, cows, pigs, dogs and other animals.  State and
Federal Agriculture Agents are preparing to launch an all-out insecticide
attack on the killer snails as soon as they airlift local villagers to
safety.

Dan, Hiromi & Kuma Yoshimoto
1164 Vista Dr.
Eureka, California
95503-6018
U.S.A.