Raccoons on the run in Germany

There are an estimated two million raccoons in Germany and since 2016 they have been listed as one of the European Union’s 1,800 invasive species.

They might look cute, but a female can produce seven or eight kits in each litter and with no natural predators in Germany, there is nothing to keep their numbers down.

It is now illegal to keep, sell or import raccoons in the EU and member states are responsible for controlling them with a variety of methods that include culling and licensed hunting.

As Germany’s raccoon population multiplies, conservationists warn – as they have warned for decades – that the cuddly “masked bandits” that on average weigh 10 kilos but can tip the scales at 20 kilos, endanger the biosystem.

They are skilled hunters with night vision that prey on the birds, reptiles, fish, crayfish and insects which, together with fruit, vegetables and nuts, form their diet.

Meatballs made from culled raccoons

Raccoons may now be hunted in almost every German state, with 200,000 killed last year but this also poses the problem of disposing of the bodies.

Michael Reiss, a butcher from Kade, 90 kilometres from Berlin, believes he has the answer.

Talking recently to the CNN news channel, Reiss explained that he came up with the idea of turning them into food instead of “throwing them in the bin.”

He first introduced meatballs at the Green Week international food fair in 2022, where they were such a success that Reiss was soon selling online.  He now offers seven raccoon meat products, including salami.

“We’re the only place in Europe selling raccoon meat,” Reiss told CNN.

At large in Germany since 1930s

Why are there so many raccoons in Germany?

Theories abound, including the myth that Hermann Goering, Hitler’s Aviation chief, released two pairs in the 1930s in the belief that they would benefit the countryside.

Others point out that they were already living in the wild by then, having been introduced for the fur trade in the late 19th century but freed when there was no call for luxury items after the 1929 Wall Street Crash.

Little attention was paid to the raccoons in post-War Germany, which was split between East and West, until much later when the problem was too big to ignore.

Nevertheless, not everyone wants to decimate the raccoons and NABU, one of Germany’s largest conservation groups, maintains that hunting them is not a solution.

“There should be measures in place to protect endangered species more efficiently, meaning they’d be less at risk from raccoons,” the group said.

The anti-culling lobby has also called for a mass-sterilisation programme, which would be “more effective and humane.”