WORLD'S FASTEST
SNAIL DISCOVERED
Gardener Wesley Bunting blows minds after spotting speedy snail which could be sliding into this year’s Guinness Book of Records.
Mr Bunting, 72, has wowed malacologists after claiming to have found what must be, without doubt, the speediest snail in history whilst pottering about in his garden last week.
“I was filling my watering can up with the outside tap which is next to my back door” he told reporters. “As I did I noticed a snail on the wall of my house and remember admiring the lovely patterns on its shell”
“When the watering can was full I made my way to the top of the garden in order to give my prize winning begonias a well earned drink. When I got up there I couldn’t believe my eyes. The snail had obviously raced up the garden and was waiting for me on the edge of one of the plant pots. I almost fell over in shock”
Mr Bunting, from Macclesfield, went on to explain how he was so amazed that he needed a sit down so that he could do the maths.
“I worked out that my garden is about 50 metres long and I can walk it in about 30 seconds which means this snail must have slid down the wall and raced up the garden and overtaken me at an astonishing 1.6 metres per second or 3.7 miles per hour. Possibly even faster as I have no idea how long he’d been waiting for me”.
When asked if it could possibly have been two different snails Mr Bunting said “After about 45 minutes I wandered back down to the outside tap to check if the first snail was there, and it wasn’t which confirmed it without question for me”
Wesley went indoors and dialled 999 and asked to be put through to Norris McWhirter immediately.
“When I eventually got through to The Guinness Book of Records they also questioned whether there was any chance that there could have been more than one mollusc in my garden but after I explained just how similar they looked they took me at my word and that seemed to be good enough for them”.
Mr Buntings snail has blown the previous record holder out of the water and will be appearing in this year’s Record book published towards the end of the year.
“I’ve not seen him since” he added, before joking “he could be in France by now at that speed. If he is he’d better take care or he could end up as some seriously fast food”