While Reiss’ racc00n products have become a novelty attraction for visitors to Kade, they are also a response to a serious problem, he says.
After being introduced to Germany for use in fur farms in the 1920s, racc00ns were first released into the wild in 1934, according to the Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU).
Since then, the mammals, who are highly adaptable and can live in towns and cities as well as forests and grasslands, have bred swiftly.
There are now an estimated 2 million racc00ns in Germany, reported German press agency DPA, citing researchers at the Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt.
The animals, who are originally from North America, typically weigh around 10 kilograms (22 pounds), but large males can reach 20 kilograms (44 pounds).
They now represent a danger to domestic biodiversity, especially the reptiles and amphibians that they eat, according to Germany’s Senckenberg Nature Research Society.
Such is their impact on endangered species that some have called for racc00n populations to be managed.
NABU, one of the country’s largest and best known conservation societies, says that hunting them is not the solution.
Although they were initially protected, racc00ns are now able to be hunted in almost every German state, but how to deal with them remains controversial.
Instead measures should be undertaken to better protect endangered species in general – meaning they’d be less at risk from racc00ns, says the group.
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