The common raccoon has made itself at home in Germany, but attitudes towards these ‘masked bandits’ are polarised
ByKATHARINA VLAANDERENPhotos byDAVID HUP
“W aschi, Waschi!” The words echo through Karlsaue Park in the German city of Kassel. A slim woman in her 50s is calling out her pet name for a wild raccoon. It’s a late summer evening in July, and she’s waiting with a loaf of bread. Raccoons are nocturnal, and the settling twilight has awoken them.
Waschi is a female the woman tells us. Right on cue, the raccoon promptly appears from the dark bushes on light-footed paws, her clan following suit. The animals are not remotely shy, clambering all over the woman as they sniff out the food. “It’s amazing how intelligent they are, and they’re just so cute,” she says. Within minutes, a dozen raccoons have gathered around, standing up and reaching out, hoping to grab a share of an easy meal.
Waschi was named after the German word for raccoon, waschbŠr, which translates as ‘washing bear.’ Raccoons, much like humans, use their small, hand-like paws for grasping, and explore their surroundings through touch. The many sensitive nerves in their paws function best when wet, which explains why raccoons are often seen ‘washing’ them in waterways such as the Fulda River, which flows through Kassel, or one of its many ponds or canals.
After the sun sets, these so-called ‘masked bandits’ take over the parks and streets of this city, where 200,000 people live. They climb out of their daytime sleeping dens, located high in old oak and beech trees, chimneys or garden sheds, and do the rounds of their favourite bins and fruit trees, brazenly crossing busy streets and sauntering into homes and gardens in search of food. Along the way, they fight off cats and dogs, who want to steal their plunder. So high is the population of raccoons in Kassel that it is now dubbed the ‘raccoon capital of Europe’.
The common raccoon may seem very at home on these streets, but it is in fact an invasive species, native to North America. Today, it is thriving not only in Kassel, but in cities across the country, with particularly high densities in the states of Hesse and Brandenburg. Exact population data is unknown, but it’s thought there could be as many as 1.5 million individuals here.
Raccoons were introduced to Germany in the 1930s and initially kept in captivity for their fur. Some escaped from fur farms around Ber
