Bounty hunt for African snails manyyears late

THE EDITOR: I never cease to be amazed at the way we do things in TT – we are always reactive rather than proactive.

The destructive and poisonous giant African snails have been with us since they were discovered in Alyce Glen, Petit Valley, around 2008.

Back then, they might have been easy for householders to control since their numbers were small. However, once they started migrating to other areas of the country in increasing numbers, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Government, by extension, should have been proactive in eradicating these pests, given what was known about them.

Instead, that exercise was left to individuals, many of whom were not equipped to handle such a dangerous task.

Farmers and others have been complaining for years about the increasing numbers of these creatures on their lands and the destruction they are causing, yet there was no all-out action from the Government. Not even the fact that these snails lay hundreds of eggs at a time could move the authorities to speedier action.

Now someone in the ministry has come up with the "brilliant" idea of turning the affected house and land owners into "bounty hunters" by asking them to collect these snails and turn them in for a mere pittance that is not worth the time, effort and expense to do this dirty work.

Why do we have to always wait until a situation turns ugly before dealing with it?

The Florida authorities, I believe, took about ten years to eradicate the snails in that jurisdiction. With the way we do things in TT, our great-grandchildren will become adults and we would still not have wiped those creatures off our landscape.

VERNON A ALLICK

Diego Martin