Guam is still infected with Achatina fulica in a big way!!  No program to
rid the island or any other island has worked to my knowledge.  Populations
are usually highly localized and may be transient . . . go through 'blooms'
and then disappear after a few years.  They are USUALLY associated with
agricultural pursuits and I have never seen them in highland habitats.
Kurt
 
At 07:44 AM 1/28/98 -0500, you wrote:
>>The site that Mark recommended is certainly amusing,
>><http://www.igor.demon.co.uk/snail.htm#introduction>
>>but the activity described is illegal in the United States!
>>
>>(It's illegal to own live Achatina without a permit from
>>the United States Department of Agriculture)
>
>
>I lived in Guam from 1959-61 (my father was in the Navy and stationed
>there) and remember that the place was rife with giant African land snails.
>About three years ago I got a chance to return to do a bit of SCUBA diving,
>shell collecting, and to see what changes had occured over the last 30
>years.  After a couple of days there I realized that there were no giant
>snails to be seen at all.  I asked the person running the boat we were
>diving from and he said that a biologist had, without getting prior
>approval, released some parasite that had pretty much wiped them out
>although there was reputed to be one remaining enclave somewhere in the
>northwest corner of Guam.  Supposedly the biologist denied that he'd done
>it and it was never proven that he had, but he left under a cloud of
>suspician. Can anyone correct or fill in more details of this story?
>
>--
>Ed Foster
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>