A Butcher Finds Way Out of Raccoon Infestation in Germany - He Makes Sausage out of Them

In recent years, Germany has faced an overpopulation of raccoons, estimated at around two million. A butcher from the German town of Kade has found a solution - he offers a variety of raccoon meat products. CNN writes about it.

In his shop in northeastern Germany, hunter and entrepreneur Michael Reiss sells sausages and other raccoon meat products.

The man told CNN that he came up with the idea after trying to come up with a special product to present at the international food fair Green Week.

He realised that raccoons, which are killed as pests, are simply thrown into the trash, and decided to ask the local authorities if they could be processed and turned into food.

After receiving the green light, Reiss began making his ‘raccoon balls’ - meatballs made from raccoon meat - which he says were a hit at the fair.

Soon after, Reiss started selling online, and he now makes a total of seven raccoon meat products, including salami.

‘We are the only place in Europe that sells raccoon meat. People come from all over, sometimes travelling 150 kilometres to get to my shop, and combine it with a day trip because they want to try raccoon,’ Reiss told CNN.

After raccoons were introduced to Germany in the 1920s for use on fur farms, they were first released into the wild in 1934. Since then, these mammals, which are highly adaptable and can live in cities and towns as well as in forests and meadows, have multiplied rapidly.

Today, there are about 2 million raccoons in Germany.

At the same time, the Daily Star reports that raccoons were brought to Germany during the Nazi era by the founder of the Gestapo, Hermann Goering. They were even nicknamed ‘Nazi raccoons’. Since then, their population has grown rapidly, and one of the German cities has been nicknamed the ‘raccoon capital of Europe’.

According to the German Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, raccoons pose a threat to domestic biodiversity, especially to the reptiles and amphibians they prey on. Their impact on endangered species is so significant that some are calling for raccoon population regulation.