Procyon lotor
About
Originally native to North America, the Common Raccoon is slowly taking over Europe as an invasive species. The "doglike" (Procyon) animal was imported to several countries as a domesticated animal harvested for its pelts but made it into the wild in Europe in the 1930s. In 2012 there was believed to be a population of over 1 million common raccoons in Germany and it has been growing exponentially.
Sam says
There seems to be divide between German counties in which the Japanese Raccoon Dog fills the niche that the Common Raccoon fills in others. Even though they are not related and live widely different lives, there don't seem to be too many Common Raccoons, wherever Tanukis are found and the other way around. I haven't seen any studies on this but whenever I hear someone mention, that their region has Raccoon Dogs, they are also surprised to hear, that Saxony has Common Raccoons and have never seen one while my region has so many that they are starting to become a problem.
A cute problem though. The first time I met a raccoon I was in my garden hut at night, in the wintertime, sorting through some old tools. It just appeared in the doorframe, standing there as if knocking, and checked if it could come in. It could. For the next nearly three years I'd have raccoon company whenever I stayed at my garden at night, sometimes in the afternoon. At some point they multiplied and I had baby raccoons in my shed. While the colony of raccoons from the nearby forest was tearing through other people's huts and vegetable patches, mine would just grab some cat food and bird seeds and play catch on my terrace with me present. The young raccoons were interested in shoe laces while the older ones enjoyed the pond. I saw and heard them using the neighbor's playground once. Then people started threatening to poison and drown said raccoons and it was time to let them go, and feed the other animals during daytime only, before they get hurt.
