Raccoons introduced by the Nazis have
officially occupied Germany after experts admitted they are there to stay.
The north American invaders – freed in
the wild on the orders of Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering – broke into houses
at the weekend as they sought food and shelter in cold weather.
As homeowners complained about furniture
being ripped to make cosy nests, the German Hunting Federation said the mammals
will never be ousted.
'The raccoon is firmly established in
Germany, this has to be accepted,' said spokesman Daniel Hoffman.
Magnus Wessel, head of the conservation
department at Friends of the Earth Germany, said: 'Limiting their numbers is
pretty much all that can be done.'
Raccoons, which German pest controllers
say now number in the millions, often choose to live under houses as they feel
safe from predators and can steal food from the bins.
As the cold conditions hit, a couple
arrived back from holiday to find one of the animals had climbed down the
chimney and eaten all the food in their cupboards in Spessart, Hesse.
A raccoon chased off a cat after breaking
in through its flap, eating a packet of biscuits and ripping up a cushion for a
nest at a home in Kaiserslautern.
Goering ordered the release of a breeding
pair of raccoons when he was the Third Reich's chief forester in 1934, to give
hunters something to shoot.
More got out in 1945 when an Allied bomb
hit a farm where they were being reared for their pelts.
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