Sean's adventure with the maraudering turkey brings to mind the following story
about the establishment of raccoons in Europe. It is another example of what
happens when humans fiddle with natural systems ...
Those of you who have problems with possums can be thankful you don't have
raccoons ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2336797.stm
Thursday, 17 October, 2002, 15:45 GMT 16:45 UK
Raccoons invade German towns
Raccoons often get into houses through cat flaps
Gangs of nocturnal thieves are stalking whole neighbourhoods in northern
Germany's towns and cities.
Unusually strong and agile, they jump onto roofs from tree tops and climb along
drainpipes.
But they are not out to steal cars or burgle apartments - they rummage through
compost heaps, overturn rubbish bins and steal pet food.
They are raccoons - thousands of them.
They are leaving their natural habitat near German streams and lakes in their
droves to make a home in towns and cities, were food, water and shelter are easy
to find.
Massive invasion
The furry animals, with their characteristic striped tail and little black mask,
are not afraid of humans.
Once they have chosen an attic, basement or garage as their den, getting rid of
them becomes very difficult.
German biologists are now exploring strategies to curb this massive invasion
which seems to be spiralling out of control.
There are a growing number of sightings and reports of damage to private
property in the outskirts of major cities such as Berlin, Hamburg and
Frankfurt.
"People in Germany are split into two parties: those who find raccons cute and
feed them, and those who resort to killing them to get rid of what they consider
a real plague," biologist Ulf Hohmann told BBC News Online.
Mr Hohmann's team has led a year-long study on urbanised raccoons in the city of
Kassel, near Frankfurt, where the highest presence of raccoons is recorded.
To draw a picture of the life of urban raccoons, they captured and marked
specimens with microchips and ear tags to monitor their movements and activity.
The study found that where people resort to killing raccoons, the animals tend
to compensate by reproducing more.
Advice
"A person who had his house invaded managed to trap and kill as many as 40
raccoons in one year, but nothing changed," Mr. Hohmann said.
Raccoons can turn handles and open doors
"What we rather advise people to do is to invest in effective stategies to
protect their homes, like trimming tree branches that stretch near the roof and
covering drainpipes to prevent raccoons from climbing along them," he added.
"It can be costly, but it certainly pays off."
Traditionally hunted for their precious fur in their native USA and Canada,
raccoon pelts became popular in Europe at the beginning of last century.
The first two pairs of raccoons were set free in Germany in 1934.
More of the animals escaped during World War II, when a stray bomb hit a raccoon
farm near Berlin.
Mr Hohmann said that racoons have already crossed into most neighbouring
countries and will eventually spread to the whole of Europe.
Meanwhile, distressed German home owners will have to pioneer ways of keeping
this furry menace at bay.
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
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