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| Man v raccoon: there can only be one winner | Man v raccoon: there can only be one winner |
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| Man's ongoing war with wildlife is nothing new, but the battle is increasingly being fought against a mammal normally associated with forests. A clip of a glowing-eyed raccoon sailing through the air has already been viewed more than 5.2m times on YouTube, and GIF-ed into oblivion elsewhere on the web. The man doing the throwing is the founder of online news site Digg, Kevin Rose, pushed into action after the animal attacked his dog, Toaster, in California. In this case it was one man (and his dog) against one raccoon – with man as victor. In Toronto in 2011, the odds were less even: armed with a shovel, Dong Nguyen beat three baby raccoons that were destroying his garden and was ordered to pay a fine and complete 100 hours of community service in an animal shelter. | |
| And this week it was reported that Madrid, where the raccoon population has flourished since the 1970s, has authorised a cull of the North American species, initially introduced to Europe as pets. Raccoons in the Spanish city have no predators but eat everything, including rubbish and birds' eggs. Some also carry rabies and a parasite (Baylisascaris procyonis) that attacks the human nervous system. | And this week it was reported that Madrid, where the raccoon population has flourished since the 1970s, has authorised a cull of the North American species, initially introduced to Europe as pets. Raccoons in the Spanish city have no predators but eat everything, including rubbish and birds' eggs. Some also carry rabies and a parasite (Baylisascaris procyonis) that attacks the human nervous system. |
| The woe is not limited to Spain. Raccoons were introduced into Germany in the 1920s to be farmed for their pelts, but in 1934, two pairs were introduced into the wild, and now, almost 80 years and countless bin-rifling incidents later, there is an estimated raccoon population of more than a million. According to Speigel Online, the German Hunting Association calculated that 67,000 raccoons were killed in a previous single season, most caught with chocolate bait. On Toronto's city website, there are tips on deterring them – they don't like oil of mustard or tabasco sauce, apparently. Here in the UK, there have been reports of raccoon sightings in places as far apart as Hampshire and County Durham. | The woe is not limited to Spain. Raccoons were introduced into Germany in the 1920s to be farmed for their pelts, but in 1934, two pairs were introduced into the wild, and now, almost 80 years and countless bin-rifling incidents later, there is an estimated raccoon population of more than a million. According to Speigel Online, the German Hunting Association calculated that 67,000 raccoons were killed in a previous single season, most caught with chocolate bait. On Toronto's city website, there are tips on deterring them – they don't like oil of mustard or tabasco sauce, apparently. Here in the UK, there have been reports of raccoon sightings in places as far apart as Hampshire and County Durham. |
| So bear all this in mind next time you moan about that other marauding American import – the grey squirrel. Things could be a lot worse. | So bear all this in mind next time you moan about that other marauding American import – the grey squirrel. Things could be a lot worse. |
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