Snails poached for sale to French restaurants

When ramblers in the Surrey countryside began to notice a suspicious absence of snails – plump, delicious "escargots" to be precise – even Inspector Clouseau himself might have been able to guess who was to blame.

The snails, a delicacy in France and often on the menu as escargot in French restaurants, are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Photo: Alamy

Now conservationists have urged police to crack down on an explosion in illegal poaching of Roman snails after discovering they were being gathered up en masse to meet a grisly, buttery end in local French restaurants.

The gastropods are listed as a protected species making it illegal to capture or sell them, but they are also regularly found on continental menus because across the channel they are considered a gastronomic delight.

Conservationists claim that French restaurants in Britain are paying up to £1 each for the unfortunate creatures, which are then fried in garlic butter or served in soup.

Roman snails are the largest snail species in the country, measuring about four inches in length, meaning that a 15kg haul could be worth £400.

Up to 70 per cent of the Roman snail population living on chalkland in Banstead Woods, Surrey, is said to have vanished over the past two years and local campaigners claim they could soon be wiped out.