Race your mollusk at the Great Richmond Slug Race

Despite the general revulsion to slugs, people in Richmond, B.C. have been racing the mollusks for the past 31 years at the city's Nature Park.

Kris Bauder, who is the coordinator for the Richmond Nature Park, has been at every one of those races.

"When I was a child it was very common to be sent out with the salt shaker after dinner to go and salt the slugs that were in the garden," she said.

I've learned to appreciate them for these really fascinating qualities that they have.- Kris Bauder, coordinator, Richmond Nature Park

"And when I think about that now, I'm appalled that I did it and I feel in many ways that I'm doing penance for that now, because I've learned to love slugs."

Slugs are common across B.C.'s South Coast, most often showing up in peoples' gardens and eating through their vegetables or ornamental flowers.

"I don't always love them when they're eating my petunias or something but I've learned to appreciate them for these really fascinating qualities that they have," said Bauder.

That really is the goal of Richmond's Slugfest, to teach people that the creatures provide food for geese, skunks, turtles and salamanders and are great recyclers of waste.

But of course, the main draw is that hundreds of people bring their own slug in a jar and try and have it get to the centre of a round board first.

Contestants aren't allowed to touch their specimens once they are set loose and races often take up to 15 minutes to complete.

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In B.C. Bauder says there are two types of slugs: non-native ones, which originated from Europe, and native species.

"We're trying to help people realize that there are native slugs that never come into their garden and the native slugs do have a role in their environment," she said.

"They might be food for something else, they might transport seeds. They are recycling agents. They eat icky things. Before we were taught to pick up our dog poo, slugs did it for us."

Bauder says the most successful slugs in the race are known as cannibalistic slugs, which are normally faster than other slugs, who they prey upon. During the race though, the bait is a strawberry or other morsel placed in the centre of the race board.

The event asks that people take their slugs home with them after it's over, and also consider more humane ways of killing slugs in their gardens, such as collecting them with tongs at night and placing them in a freezer in a bucket.