A snail the size of a cricket ball and posing a serious threat to Australia’s biosecurity has been destroyed after it was found creeping across a Brisbane container yard.

Staff called the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry after finding the large snail crawling across the cement yard.

The Giant African Snail found in a Brisbane container yard. Credit:Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

It was a Giant African Snail.

The exotic pest has an insatiable appetite and is capable of destroying 500 types of plants including vegetable crops, fruit trees and Australia’s native eucalypts.