Posted on 10/27/2005 12:12:26 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Thousands of marauding racoons, descendents of animals released by Hermann Goering, have overrun vineyards in central Germany.
The nocturnal mammals descended on vineyards in the Brandenburg region, west of Berlin, ruining the harvest. Ripening grapes are a favourite snack of the stripy-tailed rodent.
'Raccoons wiped out almost the entire harvest in a matter of days,' winemaker Werner Kothe told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. 'We have 540 vines and they have been stripped bare by these animals.'
The raccoon problem is well known in the area and although some residents take them on as pets, many consider the imported species pests.
Local authorities have now authorised a raccoon cull. Last year, a similar cull killed 3,471. There are an estimated 1m racoons in central Germany.
The animals were introduced by Nazi air force chief Hermann Goering in 1934 to 'enrich' Germany's fauna. With no natural predators their numbers have exploded.
The main winegrowing regions in west Germany – including the Mosel, Rheingau, Saar and Pfalz areas – are believed to be unaffected.
Its a multi-year program- we'll have to see in the long run. It seems in my neighborhood, it's 2 skunks and 1 raccoon per house. Toronto is too liberal for a simple bounty on their heads, but that would be cheap, quick and effective.
Lots of rabid ones where I live. If you see one in daylight it is far safer to ensure the animal assumes room temperature than to risk any encounter.
>>If you see one in daylight it is far safer to ensure the animal assumes room temperature than to risk any encounter.
I saw one on my back porch a few weeks back. I opened the door and saw it under a lawn chair I had, looking up at me. I live on the third floor of an apartment house, and the woman on the 2nd floor has a cat; the cat was on the stairs leading up to my porch and meowing up at me as if to say "get this thing out of here!!" Scaredy-cat.
The raccoon went up onto a "half-roof" (the left side of the house extends a bit further than the right side, so this is what was covering that extension) and looked down at me,
shaking a bit (scared). No sign of rabies from what I could see. After a minute or so the raccoon seemed to relax, sensing I would do it no harm. I just looked up at it
calmly. Didn't pet it --didn't want to take a chance! Then the critter bounded over the side of the roof and probably jumped off safely from a low point (I couldn't see).
I mentioned this to a couple newsgroups and they said I did the right thing (in terms of not petting it). They said while it is true that some raccoons will come out in the late afternoon to "sun themselves" (and that's what time of day it was), you never know which ones are rabid and it's best to leave them alone--risk of rabies and who knows what else.
"I know no-think!"
Time for the Krauts to import some pythons. We have plenty in Florida to give them. All they have to do is come to the 'Glades and pick 'em up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.