Rampaging raccoons: how the American mammals took over a German city – and are heading across Europe | Invasive species

IN Cakes, everyone has a story about the raccoon. Some of them struggle with a family who moved to their roof and will not simply leave. Others tell how a picnic has turned into an ambush as black and black gangs, known in Germany like Waschbärenand I raided the food. Almost everyone has a neighbor who feeds them, to disturb the entire street.

“We are the city of Raccon. They are everywhere,” says Lars, a resident of Cassel, who tends to be allocated by Carlso Park in a faded light.

He says: “When it is a little darker, they will go out. I will sit here in my garden at night and the raccoon comes. If your bag is here, they will steal your banana or something of this.” “They do not have predators, so they are the presidents. They can do what they want. We love them but we hate them too.”

While no one knows the exact number, there are thousands of raccoon in this central German city, which is a hot point for 1.5 million estimated throughout the country.

North American mammals were brought to Nazi Germany in the thirties of the twentieth century for fur cultivation, but escaping from animals and deliberate introductions helped to establish a large group of wild in the years that followed. Today, they are increasingly monitored throughout Europe, with viewer In France, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Austria and other places.

“It is clear that the raccoon is spreading very quickly across the western EuropeDaniel Wilkox, co -chair of the International Conservation Federation (IUCN) says a group of small meat -eating animals.

Many were built in Castle Rakan: Many sports teams called themselves the name of animals; Residential funds are closed to stop opportunists, and people are keen to check their animals. But since 2016, the raccoon has been classified as a Ghazi type in the European Union due to the threat to the original wildlife.

“The effects of the widespread raccoon,” says Martin Winter, an expert in the German -sized types of biological diversity research. “They can climb, which is a completely new environmental place for such a kind in Europe.

One study In Brandenburg it indicates that the raccoon routinely precedes the birds that nest the land, which has already suffered from significant declines in the population throughout the continent. Other research, from western Poland, They show that they are Eat “extreme” quantities of endangered sea muted.

Winter says Raccope has become so widespread in parts of Europe that it may now have become part of ecosystems forever. Their spread is possible throughout Europe and environmental scientists are divided around what to do then.

“There are some local species that will be really sensitive to predation by Raccope. There must be control programs,” says Welcox.

It proposes tougher programs throughout the European Union to reduce its spread, such as those in Australia and New Zealand Which invested large sums To get rid of the original biological diversity. But others urge to be careful. Winter says that there is a need for further research on the effects of raccoon on European biological diversity and says it is not the only pressure on the species accused of consumption.

“We need better data to have an idea of ​​the actual influence of the chick on its prey residents. With 1.6 million people in Germany, they have an impact. But we still have a mink, which is also a very effective predator for animals that display the land. What about cats?

Despite the popularity of the animal among many Germans, the 200,000 of Racok was executed last year alone. Fishing societies indicate that they are present in increasing numbers and through larger ranges. To help control the population, At least one butcher Until he started making sausages and meat balls from their meat.

He told CNN in 2024: “I had no one who says he was disgusting or that you could not eat it. Frankly, everyone loves her,” he told CNN in 2024.

At sunset in Castle, the bicycle passengers in early summer begin to slow down. Empoils and swifts feast on the flying insects in dull light. From the trees, the raccoon begins to appear, and ready to search for the city in short hours. Lars, who is resting on things with his real names, says that the residents of Kassel will continue to embrace animals – but there are limits.

“When I was a child, they were here but not much,” he says. “They are a symbol for us here, an honor badge. Sometimes, we are proud of them. But they destroy a lot.”

Find more Covering the era of extinction hereHe followed the correspondence of biological diversity Vepi Weston and Patrick Greenfield In the Guardian app for more nature coverage