Army of Nazi raccoons force Germans to admit defeat
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.
Masked menace: Raccoons break in to homes to find food and warmth (Picture: AP)
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.
