Samuel Oathout

Professor Ted Fitts

WR 152 M4: Final Essay, Final

25 Apr. 2023

Tire-Popping Snails: Humans’ Unexpected Wakeup to Nature’s Dominance

You’re walking on the sidewalk in Florida, and suddenly there

is a car accident in the vicinity. After investigating the accident,

a snail was named the culprit because its shell had popped the

car’s tire. That would be the Giant African Snail, a snail that

feeds on over five hundred types of plants and trees and causes

structural damage to houses by eating paint and stucco. The

snail reproduces alarmingly fast and also carries lugworm, a Fig. 1

parasite that can be fatal when contracted by humans (USDA).
The Giant African Snail is not native to America and is named
Source: "Papaya (Carica papaya): Giant
African snail (Achatina fulica)" by Plant pests
and diseases is marked with CC0 1.0. To view
the terms, visit
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zer
o/1.0/?ref=openverse.

a hazard by the U.S. government, and on one occasion these

snails found their way here and caused enough damage to require long-term eradication events

and their subsequent banning. Though even after their banning, there have been two other

instances of African Snails appearing, reproducing exponentially, and causing month-long

quarantines to allow for re-eradication efforts. How is it that Giant African Snails continue to

appear even after the government banned their transportation and possession and deemed them a

serious threat? The answer is that humans disregard the ban because we misunderstand the

dangers of nature and misinterpret our place in the ecosystem. We misbelieve that as humans, we

are invincible to all dangers in nature and have the ability to control all aspects of nature and
shape it to our will when in reality, nature is a much stronger force than we can imagine. The

number of African Snail outbreaks reveals that humans have chosen to and still choose to view

nature as weak and harmless, even when there are a multitude of obvious signs that indicate

peril. In a reimagined vision of nature, humans have an innate obligation to leave nature

undisturbed, since any nature in the hands of humans is abused, destroyed, and destroys us. In

the case of Giant African Snails, humans in this vision avoid the African Snails since there is no

mutually beneficial reason to interact with the snails. Any interaction in the past regarding snails

has been selfish and, on more than one occasion led to an outbreak. The perfect solution involves

as little interaction as possible and only collaborating when both parties are able to benefit. Any

other case inevitably creates room for human greed to overpower judgment and become the sole

reason for manipulating nature.

Humans have been around for tens of thousands of years. Over that time, we gained immense

amounts of knowledge and amassed over seven billion people. Now that we span the globe,

some might say that we are the dominant species on the planet, but those people are mistaken -

nothing spans the Earth as prominently as nature does. As we transformed the environment

around us and learned about ourselves and the Earth, we began to misunderstand where exactly

we stand in our enormous ecosystem. Humans believe that they are at the top of the food chain

when in reality, we are subject to all of the dangers of nature because of that misaligned belief.

Nature has inherent dangers like climate, terrain, and predators. Every year, forty-seven thousand

people are attacked by animals in the wild (Conover, 1); over twenty-three thousand people died

in mountain-related activities from 1970 to 2010 (Gatterer et al.), and more than three thousand

people died in 2007 from unintentional drowning incidents (WKU). The common denominator

in all these statistics is the humans who put themselves in life-threatening situations. These
 numbers are only a fraction of the

number of people who have actively

participated in these activities. So,

why would so many people put their

lives at risk in situations that could

have been avoided by not

participating? The answer is as

simple as hubris and prestige -

humans believe they are invincible

to nature, and see nature as a

challenge to overcome for status. In

humans eyes, doing something life-

threatening is the perfect way to

demonstrate their strength, and when people see others accomplishing great feats and

overcoming nature by climbing Mt. Everest or biking dangerous courses, they feel more and

more compelled to be one of those successful athletes. As a result, there are incredibly high death

rates from people who believed they were impervious to nature and were proven wrong in their

attempts to conquer nature. It is no wonder then, that humans underestimate and outright reject

the danger of snails. Humans believe they are so above nature that they are immune to the

obvious threat it poses to our race. When people see these Giant African Snails, they do not see

the inherent hazard that the U.S. government has deemed the species because their arrogance

blinds them from the truth that danger does not have to be actively visible to be danger. The

people who understand nature to be dangerous can envision the potential risk that African Snails
carry, and act accordingly to mitigate the danger to themselves and others. On the other hand,

arrogant humans cannot fathom the danger that a small snail poses when their interpretation of

danger is based on that which is obviously dangerous, like a lion or bear. It does not pose a

threat, so it is something of a non-issue. Instead, they see the snail as another status symbol.

“They become increasingly popular as pets in recent years” and “they are also very beautiful and

cute. It will make a great decorative addition to any household.” (Michael). Although

unsurprisingly, if one were to question people on the risks of owning an African Snail, people

would not know. Snails are not dangerous. I could get rid of a snail. What could one snail even

do?

What could one snail even do? Against a human, snails are minuscule and easily taken care of.

This line of thought is common for humans who do not understand that nature is not to be taken

lightly. Humans have spent so much time molding our environment and shaping our ecosystem,

that we falsely believe we are free to manipulate and control all aspects of nature. It is this

arrogance that caused the two African Snail outbreaks following the species’ ban. For millennia,

humans have changed nature to suit their needs, whether it be for shelter, food, or comfort.

Around 50,000 years ago in Australia, humans burned and removed the undergrowth in order to

hunt more efficiently for food and influence the growth of certain crops (Brin). 100 years ago,

we mined for coal to create long-lasting energy, and even today humans are fracking for oil and

natural gas to heat our homes and power our vehicles. Through time we have exercised our

ability to manipulate the environment for our needs, but the consequence of these cases is an

oversimplified generalization toward our view of nature. We erroneously believe that because

humans have been able to control nature in these and other cases for our benefit, then as humans,

we can manipulate any part of nature for whatever reason suits us, when ultimately, that is not
the case. Humans attempting to change nature for self-centered reasons often result in failure

because they are short-sighted and cannot see the complexity of nature. People who try and plant

invasive species because they are appealing, often do not understand when the other plants in the

vicinity die and the non-native plant

flourishes and overpopulates. They

do not anticipate the non-native

plant overtaking the nutrients of the

other plants because there is a

disconnect between the vision these

people have and their execution as

humans do not have the foresight to

plan for nature’s complexity. The

outbreaks now seem like an obvious

consequence of reintroducing African Snails into the U.S. Humans who foolishly believe they

have the power to dominate and mold nature to our will dismiss the warnings placed by the

government, and choose to take these Giant African Snails from their natural habitat to eat them

or bring home as pets. Once these people are proven wrong, the fuse has already been lit, and

they can only sit back and watch as nature unfolds against their will and exerts its dominance

over a scale much larger than that one human could have anticipated. This is what one snail

could do.

How do we prevent these outbreaks from happening in the future? In an ideal situation, Giant

African Snails are not disturbed by humans, and with no one perturbing them by taking them

from their natural habitat for humans’ selfish desires, there will be notably less chance of another
outbreak. The reason for humans leaving African Snails alone is based on humans having an

intuitive obligation to leave nature untouched, because humans lack the foresight to plan for

danger when disturbing nature for selfish reasons, and consequently leads to nature being abused

and destroying us. Taking the case of the 1915 property boom in Miami Beach into

consideration, over a thousand structures were built in anticipation of the desire for waterfront

real estate (Steinberg, 35). Those who built in that time were likely ecstatic to see that the

property value skyrocketed from

$250,000 to $44 million in ten years.

Though, while prospects were high,

neither the people building the structures

nor the buyers realized that all of the

structures were built on incredibly

unstable land. While millions of dollars

were made at that time, nobody

anticipated the dangers of so many buildings on the unsteady ground because they were too

focused on short-term gain. In 1926, danger struck as a category 2 hurricane reduced all of the

recently-built houses to rubble, and nobody had expected it at all. The millions made in property

value over ten years were lost in less than a week. It was this desire to transform nature which

quickly became a plan to abuse nature for self-centered goals. This showed that those

participating were too focused on the short-term goal and not planning long-term to see the

possible danger that nature presented. Seeing how people take Giant African Snails from their

habitats and disturb nature for their own desires in an attempt to own the snail as a pet or eating it

as a ‘delicacy,’ people quickly lose sight of the possible consequences, which leads to more
outbreaks. In this new vision, humans and nature are able to peacefully coexist because humans

are not perturbing nature. With no people trying to transport the African Snail to the U.S., no

outbreaks can happen in the future from humans misjudging the danger of a snail.

To the last point, some would argue that humans have been able to use nature to their advantage

and leave both nature and humans unharmed in the process. While this is true, the circumstances

were different, as the use of nature was for the betterment of the majority. An example would be

planting native species in order to foster biodiversity and increase bee populations. In this case,

humans used nature as a way to increase bee and insect populations to allow for more pollination

of U.S. produce, since pollination accounts for “one in three bites of food” humans eat every day

(Randall). By manipulating nature, humans have been able to allow more access to food around

the world, while fostering increased biodiversity and preserving different recently-endangered

species. The difference between this claim and the one before lies within the exigence of humans

disturbing nature. The reason for humans and nature being separate in this reimagined vision is

that humans are taking these African Snails not for the betterment of humans as a whole but for

their pleasure. People want these snails as pets or food, which has no value to our community,

whereas planting native plants was done in order to feed our population and protect the

biodiversity of our land. It is imperative that humans sometimes rely on and use nature, but the

underlying reason for the use is the defining factor in whether or not the manipulation is

warranted. In the case of Giant African Snails, there is no reason for humans to interfere with

nature, since at this point, the interference solely stems from humans’ selfishness.

Understanding that humans are subject to arrogance and greed is incredibly important for

understanding how to interact with nature. Instead of the current scenario where outbreaks

continue from human oversight and hubris, the best course of action is a new vision; one where
humans are taught to respect nature and acknowledge that not all dangers are immediately

recognizable, while also

learning how to channel

inner desires

constructively for the

common good. In this

view of nature, people are

shown why Giant African

Snails have been

outlawed in the U.S, and

from there, mutual growth

occurs. The snails are

allowed to live in peace out of the hands of selfish humans, and humans have both prevented a

number of potential future outbreaks and gained more knowledge that can be put to use in other

aspects of nature or their own lives. This channeling of inner desires works as a creative outlet

where selfish desires to manipulate nature are discussed and turned into problems regarding the

community, and people work together in order to brainstorm methods of creating a solution that

benefits the majority while not harming nature. In this way, having selfish desires does not lead

to making short-sighted decisions that end up affecting many. The desires become the catalyst to

solve problems that will benefit not only humans, but potentially, and hopefully, the environment

as well. This idea hinges on the fact that humans will take advantage of nature in order to satisfy

their own desires and helps to realize that in order to make meaningful changes within nature, the

desire to manipulate nature must be met with good intentions. When humans are able to come
together for a common purpose, they are able to see a bigger picture than a small group operating

with a selfish goal in mind. This recognition of the bigger picture allows for a more holistic

approach to manipulating nature, one that works toward the benefit of our community while not

disturbing nature but affecting it in such a way that promotes positive growth. If any uses for

Giant African Snails were to arise in the future, so long as they are for the benefit of the

population, then in utilizing them, humans will not gain while being at the expense of nature.

While this vision applies to African Snails, it can be tailored to many other situations. In the

search for new types of fuel, making sure to keep nature in the foreground will help to prevent

more destruction of the atmosphere. In the case of feeding a growing population, keeping in

mind nature’s need to feed itself in order to provide food for humans is imperative. Looking at

our past, it is painfully obvious that short-term gain governed our manipulation of nature, but

looking forward, we have the ability to learn from our mistakes and grow from our interactions

with nature through being conscious of our impact on nature.

Word Count: 2502

Works Cited

Brin, Lindsay Devon. “Fire and Ice: The Relationship Between Humans and the Environment.”

Human Nature, Technology & the Environment, Swarthmore College

Environmental Studies, 5 Feb. 2003,

http://fubini.swarthmore.edu/~ENVS2/S2003/lindsaydevon/firstessay_fireandice.html.

In this source, Brin provides an unbiased description of the major ways in which humans have

used nature over the course of human history. Brin begins with the use of fire and tools to assist

in hunting, passes through fracking and mining for fossil fuels for heating and transportation, and

ends with a question and statement surrounding the need for alternative sources of fuel due to the
increasing amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. This source is helpful to my paper

because it sets a background for past manipulation of nature, which is important to advancing my

claim that having altered nature in the past made humans believe that we can now manipulate

nature whenever and for whatever reason.

Conover, Michael R. “Numbers of Human Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses in the United ...”

Digital Commons, Jack H. Berryman Institute and Department of Wildland Resources,

Utah State University, 2019, https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

article=1544&context=hwi.

In this source, Michael Conover studies the number of injuries, illnesses, and fatalities from

animal attacks in the wild in the U.S. Conover found that over 47,000 people are injured by

animal attacks in the wild every year, and more are injured in collisions with animals. This

source is important to my paper because it outlines the dangers humans face from nature, and

helps build into my claim that humans feel invulnerable to nature. This source is similar to the

source directly below it surrounding mountain sports, but this source defines danger from

animals in nature, which aligns with my overall claim that snails are dangerous, and helps build

on the inability of people to see danger in nature.

Gatterer, Hannes, et al. “Mortality in Different Mountain Sports Activities Primarily Practiced in

the Summer Season-A Narrative Review.” International Journal of Environmental

Research and Public Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 15 Oct. 2019,

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6843304/.

In this source, researchers studied the number of fatalities per 1000 people related to practicing

mountain sports in the summer around the world. They found that the risk of death was high

when people attempted activities involving high-altitude climbing or paragliding, and that risk of
death was associated with a single attempt per person, as opposed to multiple ventures per

person. This research study is important to my paper because it outlines the dangers humans face

from nature, though more specifically, the unnecessary danger that humans put on themselves

while in nature, which helps me create and advance my claim that humans feel they are

invincible to nature and see nature as a challenge waiting to be overcome.

Michael. “Are Land Snails Good Pets? Pros and Cons.” Aquarium Breeder, 22 Mar. 2023,

https://aquariumbreeder.com/are-land-snails-good-pets-pros-and-cons/.

This source is a comparative article about the pros and cons of owning a Giant African Snail.

Michael notes that there are many pros to owning an African Snail, such as being low-

maintenance and easily breedable in captivity. Michael does not go into detail about the possible

diseases that African Snails carry, and glances over the fact that snails can carry diseases and that

they may be illegal to own in some states from their potential to become invasive. This source is

perfect for my paper because it highlights the ignorance that people have towards African Snails,

and helps me build my claim that people are unaware of the dangers that African Snails pose to

humans and our environment.

Randall, Brianna. “The Value of Birds and Bees.” Farmers.gov, NRCS Working Lands for

Wildlife, 6 June 2022, https://www.farmers.gov/blog/value-birds-and-

bees#:~:text=Honey%20bees%20alone%20pollinate%2080,types%20of%20fruits

%20and%20vegetables.

In this USDA article, Brianna Randall reports on the declining pollinator populations and notes

how imperative they are to the food we produce. Randall notes that after pollinator populations

began declining, people began manipulating nature by planting native plants, which gave

pollinators sustenance and provided the plant owners with plants and food. This source is
important to my claim because it addresses a defence to the possible counterargument that people

have been able to manipulate nature without destroying it our ourselves. This source highlights

the exigence for the manipulation of nature, which is especially helpful since it allows me to

build on my counterclaim, not by dismissing it as invalid, but by qualifying the manipulation of

nature based on the reason for the manipulation.

Steinberg, Ted. Acts of God. Available from: Yuzu, (2nd Edition). Oxford University Press

Academic US, 2006.

Acts of God, by Ted Steinberg, is a review and critical analysis of natural disasters occurring in

the U.S. with an emphasis on the human component of the occurrence of these disasters.

Steinberg believes that human neglect and intervention with nature have foreshadowed and

increased the damage of these disasters, and resulted in the unnecessary death and displacement

of the poor and disenfranchised communities, the ones who are hit hardest when disasters strike.

This source is important to my paper because it provides evidence of greed and selfish desire

leading to an oversight in the manipulation of nature, which helps me advance the argument that

I make in my defense of the counterargument. Before qualifying the manipulation of nature, this

source helps to outline the qualification for not manipulating nature as being for selfish desire.

“Unintentional Drowning: Fact Sheet.” WKU News, Western Kentucky University, 24 June

2010, https://www.wku.edu/news/articles/index.php?

view=article&articleid=722&return=archive.

This source examines the number of unintentional drownings and finds that much of the

associated risk is from people who are not prepared in natural water settings with safety gear like

life jackets or who are intoxicated around the bodies of water. This source is helpful to my paper

because it assists with the other two sources in communicating the possible dangers of nature.
This source specifically highlights the fact that accidents happen because of human fault, which

helps to further my claim that people end up dying in nature because they do not see nature as

dangerous, and therefore do not need to be careful around nature because they are invincible to

it.

“Why Is It Illegal to Own a Giant African Snail in the United States?” AskUSDA, U.S.

Department of Agriculture, 17 July 2019, https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/is-it-legal-to-own-

a-giant-African-snail-in-the-united-states#:~:text=USDA%20prohibits%20importing

%20or%20owning,peas%2C%20cucumbers%2C%20and%20melons.

This source outlines the reason for the ban on Giant African Snails in the U.S. The USDA finds

that the ban was implemented due to the rapid reproduction of the snail, its diet consisting of

many types of trees, over 500 plants, and its affinity to eat paint and stucco on houses. The snail

also carries a parasite called lugworm which when contracted in humans causes meningitis and

possibly death. This source is important because it sets up the common ground and conceptual

problem for my paper, and gives an understanding of the dangers of African Snails. It also assists

the setup for my major claim that people do not see the dangers in nature, and my other claim

that people believe they can manipulate nature for whatever they see fit.

Exhibits Cited

Benavides, Cristian, director. Teams with the Department of Agriculture and the Division of

Plant Industry Worked to Capture Giant African Land Snails and Eliminate Them from

Communities across Miami-Dade and Broward. NBC 6 South Florida, NBC 6 South

Florida, 6 Oct. 2021, https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/florida-eradicates-giant-

african-land-snails/2568146/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023. (Video - Cannot import to Word)

Fusco, Emily J., et al. “Regional Invasive Species & Climate Change Management

Challenge: Why Native? Benefits of Planting Native Species in a Changing Climate.”

ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2018,

https://scholarworks.umass.edu/eco_ed_materials/3/?

utm_source=scholarworks.umass.edu%2Feco_ed_materials

%2F3&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages. (Fact Sheet -

Cannot import to word)

“Humans against Nature vs. Humans with Nature.” What’s Biophilia? Are You Biophilic?, The

Nature Of Business, 29 Jan. 2013, https://thenatureofbusiness.org/2013/01/29/whats-

biophilia-are-you-biophilic/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023. (Humans Against Nature Pic)

Michael. “Giant African Snails Eating a Piece of Green.” Are Land Snails Good Pets? Pros and

Cons, Aquarium Breeder, https://aquariumbreeder.com/are-land-snails-good-pets-pros-

and-cons/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023. (African Land Snail Picture)

"Papaya (Carica papaya): Giant African snail (Achatina fulica)" by Plant pests and diseases is

marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=openverse.

Thomas, Erin, director. The Breakdown: Why Bees Are Important to the Environment.

https://www.actionnews5.com, 19 May 2021,

https://www.actionnews5.com/2021/05/19/breakdown-why-bees-are-important-

environment/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023. (Video File - Cannot import video to Word)

In this Channel 5 news article, Erin Thomas outlines the importance of bees in our lives. Thomas

points out that bees pollinate around 90% of our plants, and that without bees, we would be

without many types of flowers and cotton, and we would have less livestock. This source is
important to my claim because it helps to address a positive side to manipulating nature. A side

where helping nature has also helped humans. This source is important because it helps my other

pollinator source to build on my counterclaim by qualifying it instead of invalidating it.

Steinberg, Ted. Miami, 1926. Available from: Yuzu, (2nd Edition). Oxford University Press

Academic US, 2006. (Hurricane Damage Picture)

Yamamoto, Glen. “A New Sign Was Posted at the Notoriously Dangerous Olomana Trail on the

Island of Oahu in Hawaii.” Terrifying Sign Posted at Hawaii’s Notoriously Dangerous

Olomana Trail, SFGATE, 2 Dec. 2022, https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/article/hawaii-

oahu-hike-terrifying-sign-17624601.php. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023. (Warning Sign Picture)