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A German city on the frontline in the battle against 'Nazi' raccoons has suffered a huge setback after plans to sterilise them were scrapped after just six operations.
Officials in Kassel, Hesse, admitted earlier this year they were losing the fight against the masked invaders, but came up with a radical plan to catch and sterilise them to slow the boom in numbers.
But the scheme was shut down after hunters complained it was illegal.
Regulators ruled the mass ops counted as an animal experiment under German and EU law, meaning the organisers needed special permits usually reserved for lab testing on animals.
Because sterilisation involves anaesthesia, pain and surgery, it fell under the same rules - and the permits had never been requested.
Officials also pointed out that under EU rules raccoons are an invasive species.
That means they must be reduced or eradicated, not trapped, operated on and released again.
Hunters said even neutered raccoons would keep raiding bins and killing endangered birds and amphibians.
Scientists from Goethe University Frankfurt also tore into the project, saying it was based on "false assumptions."
They argued raccoons are not territorial, so sterilising a few will not stabilise numbers, and that hunting does not trigger a bigger population surge, as campaigners had claimed.
The sterilisation plan, launched at the start of August, had seen 30 volunteers and 10 vets baiting the animals with marmalade sandwiches before snaring them, sterilising them and setting them free.
The goal was to cut numbers by 20 per cent over three years.
Instead it collapsed after just six raccoons went under the knife.
The raccoons were first introduced to Germany in the 1930s by Hermann Goering, founder of the Gestapo, who wanted them for hunting and fur farming.
When they escaped after the war, the population exploded.
Germany is now home to more than two million, with Kassel thought to have more than 10,000 - the biggest concentration in Europe.
City official Heiko Lehmkuhl admitted: "Completely eradicating raccoons from urban areas is extremely difficult.
"Our goal can only be to keep conflicts with the animals as low as possible."
With sterilisation off the table, residents are now being told to "raccoon-proof" their homes.
The animals, which raid bins and tear through roofs, are also blamed for wiping out toads, frogs and other endangered species.
In one notorious case a Berlin crane operator found a raccoon waiting for him 130 feet in the air in his control cabin.
Another woman in North Rhine-Westphalia discovered one perched on her living room clock after wrecking her home.
And last year (2024), police called to a burglary found a raccoon tearing apart a bedroom.
(Mike Leidig / newsX)
Byline Journalist: Mike Leidig
Byline Sub editor: Simona Kitanovska
Byline Spotter: Mike Leidig
Byline Commisioning Editor: Mike Leidig
Byline Senior Writer: Mike Leidig
Byline Copychecker: Angela Trajkovska
Byline Illustrator: Angela Trajkovska
Byline News Editor: Mike Leidig
Geography: Kassel
Subject: Animals, Raccoon
T4 Editor Story Rating: 7
T4 Editor Pic/Vid rating: 7
T4 Total rating: 7
