"Wesley M. Thorsson" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


>Earlier than that when we lived in Guam, fulica were extremely common.
>When I went out at night to put out trash for pickup, walking on the
>snails sounded like walking on crisp frozen snow.  They also went into
>decline, partly by a determined effort of many people to pick up as many
>as they saw.



I lived in Guam from 1959-61 and Achatina fulica were everywhere.
About 4-5 years ago I went back for a week and about halfway through
my stay realized I hadn't seen a single one.  I asked the owner of
the dive operation I was diving with about it and he said that a
biologist, without going through the proper procedures and totally on
his own, had released some parasite that killed them off.  Although
no one could prove he did it, everyone was sure he did and he
ultimately left the island under a cloud of suspicion.  Can anyone
corroborate this story?
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Ed Foster
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