As the rainy season intensifies, Government’s Giant African Snail Eradication Programme will move to the north this weekend.
Residents of Mount Standfast, St. James, and surrounding districts are invited to participate in a snail collection exercise this Saturday, September 6, beginning at 4:30 a.m.
Participants are asked to assemble on the open lot opposite the Seventh Day Adventist Church at Storehouse Gap. Breakfast will be served.
Persons are reminded to walk with their gloves, boots, raincoats, buckets with covers and torchlights, among other requirements. Incinerators will be on site to destroy those snails which have been collected.
To date, national snail collection exercises have been carried out at Rock Hall, St. Thomas; Greenwich Village, and Holder’s Hill, St. James, among other sites; while several communities including Westwood Park, St. James; Fairview Heights, St. George; and College Savannah, St. John, have been proactive in staging their own snail hunts with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Ministry has also designated a snail team, whose function is to conduct daily investigations and baitings in districts across the island.
As the rains come, residents can expect to see an upsurge in this pest.