Raccoons are originally native to North America, but have also occurred in Germany for several decades. Here the invasive species is now spreading, as monitoring data. Accordingly, raccoons now live in more than two thirds of the nationwide hunting grounds. The losers of this development are rare amphibians and reptiles that are on the menu of the predators.
Raccoons (Procyon Lotor) were first introduced from North America to Germany in the 1930s and initially bred as fur animals. In 1934, four of the cute animals were deliberately suspended in Hesse to locate them. Years later, other animals were released in the Eifel, others escaped from a breeding in Berlin. Since then, raccoons have also lived in our forests and some housing estates and multiply there with a rapid enemies.
The small bears feed on amphibians and reptiles. During the mating season, the raccoon specializes in toads, frogs, snakes, newts and Salamander, as researchers around Sven Klimpel from the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center Frankfurt have found. Among them are several rare and protected species. This can lead to the stocks of these species fall or even die out locally on individual lakes and streams. In addition, raccoons take away their living space, such as the resting or nesting places in the trees. The raccoon, as the formerly, threatens the ecological balance and the local biological diversity.
Raccoons spread towards the southwest
But how many of the gray fur bearers are there in Germany? It is estimated that there are now around two million, there are no exact figures. The German Hunting Association (DJV) follows its approximate number every two years. In its last survey, the Association of Monitoring data for raccoon sightings from around 24,000 German hunting grounds evaluated-this corresponds to 38 percent of the forest and agricultural areas in the federal territory.
The evaluation showed that in 2023 hunters reported in 69 percent of the raccoons living in 69 percent – in 2011 it was only 38 percent of the areas. The small bear in the northeast and in the middle of Germany was particularly frequently sighted: over 90 percent of the hunting grounds have reported its occurrence in Brandenburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt. According to this, the raccoon is increasingly spreading in Germany and continues to penetrate southwest. So far, significantly fewer raccoons have been spotted in the south and northwest of Germany than in the rest of the Federal Republic. However, the furry immigrant also picks up there. In Baden-Württemberg, for example, he was already reported in 51 percent of the areas in 2023, in 2011 it was still 14 percent of the areas in the “Ländle”.
In 2023, even more raccoons were killed in hunting in the federal states with the highest raccoon. In nationwide hunting statistics, the number of raccoons killed has risen to 203,306 animals; In 2011 their number was only about a third and in 2006 only around one sixth. This also proves that the immigrant bear spreads strongly and has become a bigger problem than domestic foxes.
Raccoons often fall into traps
In order to protect the domestic species from the raccoon as an invasive way, it is important to monitor the existence of the small bears and to contain the hunting if necessary. The catch hunting is particularly important for this, emphasizes the DJV. In this form of hunting, the hunters catch the nocturnal animals with box traps and succumb to shoot them with rifles from afar instead of shooting them. 40 percent of the raccoons were killed with such traps in 2023. According to the association, the figures show that this form of hunting is effective and necessary. The DJV therefore calls for politics to allow catch hunting in all federal states and to promote it by the state. It is currently prohibited in Berlin, strictly regulated in other countries or only allowed to a limited extent.
Source: German Hunting Association e. V. (DJV)