Overview
- Hunters recorded 284,220 raccoons killed in the 2024/25 season, more than double a decade ago and roughly ten times the early 2000s, according to DJV statistics.
- The species now appears in over two thirds of German hunting districts, reaching about 90% in hotspots such as Brandenburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt.
- CDU lawmaker Sarah Schweizer proposes a bounty for each raccoon killed, a year-round end to closed seasons, nationwide approval of night-vision gear and a federal taskforce.
- DJV president Helmut Dammann-Tamke urges nationwide standards that keep trapping unrestricted, arguing raccoons threaten amphibians and ground-nesting birds.
- Animal-welfare group PETA disputes significant biodiversity harm and warns culling can spur compensatory reproduction, even as reports note continued spread despite record kills.