Raccoons, The New Europeans | Go Wild

Today approximately half a million raccoons are living in Germany. It all started in the first half of the last century with fur farms. Since fur produced in captivity was of lesser quality than fur from the wild, it was decided to release two gestate pairs into the forest. The raccoons came upon ideal living conditions and multiplied busily. Today they are spreading to the neighbouring countries, as well. All of a sudden hunters start worrying about all the other animals the raccoons were allegedly feeding on. For a long time there were no extensive studies on how raccoons affect the native species in Europe. Only in 2006 the biologists Frank Uwe Michler and Berit Köhnemann started to shed light on the issue with surprising and mainly comforting conclusions. The film shows how they live in forests and cities and portrays the work of the scientists.