Walking in tact, still

[Skybird]

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-engla...shire-64165953

[Jimbuna]

Poor little bugga but he appears to be coping well. If that was my property I'd be leaving food out every evening.

[Skybird]

Yes, and water. And maybe an inviting shelter.

Foxes learn quick, and can form sort of bondings with humans. For exmaple the foxes in Berlin are famous for that (Berlin has not only a wild boar problem, but also very many foxes, these are no problem). Clever adapters and opportunists they are. I like them.

Rabies in foxes is no problem anymore in Germany. But the fox-tapeworm is a big problem (echinococcus multilocularis, dangerous for humans). Thats why you maybe do not want to have a fox visiting your property and leaving droppings when you have dogsd or cats also playing in the garden, they could bring the infection inside the house and family.

Handling squirrels is much safer. The risk that a European red squirrel carries tularemia (potentially lethal for humans) is so low that statistically it can be ignored. But wild rabbits and hares are something different, i would never easily make contact to a wild rabbit in the park without precautions taken. And why even then?


The only risk you take when handling wild squirrels, is a certainty: fleas. And different to common belief they sometimes do jump over on humans.

[Jimbuna]

Unfortunately I can't say the same for those foxes living 1/4 of a mile from my property.

They scavenge the household bins most evenings and have even been known do attack neighbours domesticated cats and dogs.

[Aktungbby]

What of the feral Waschbären problem in Germany... ie: estimated 1,000,000 invasive NorthAmerican raccoons now infesting Germany. Chocolate traps R used to kill about 60,000 per year.

[Skybird]

They are considered a pest both by hunters and environmentalists, and are being hunted, which is agreed to even by said environmentalists and animal protectors. The kill numbers have expoloded in recent five years. But the situation is out of control, the species spreads beyond control. Several amphibous and bird species are brought to the brinks of being highly endangered , due to racoons eating their eggs and younglings. They even plunder nests that are high and isolated - that of of falcons and sea eagles.

Strangely, the wide public and German media refuse to take note of it, although it is a desaster unfolding.

Cute animals, unfortunately way too successful in opportunism as a survival strategy. And they have no natural enemies in Germany.

[Jimbuna]

Olaf must be a fan then

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Olaf must be a fan then

Herman Göring was! https://www.dw.com/en/nazi-raccoons-...rope/a-1390574

The story begins in 1934, when a breeder asked the Reich Forestry Office, then led by future top Hitler aide Hermann Göring, for permission to release the masked-faced mammals to "enrich the local fauna" outside Kassel, a small city north of Frankfurt.
"Raccoon pelts were a popular trophy for hunters back then," biologist Ulf Hohmann said. "They were also raised for their fur at special farms" after they were imported from North America early last century.
Seventy years on, the furry critters are now as populous in some areas of Germany as in the major urban centers of North America -- a whopping one per hectare (2.5 acres), Hohmann said.
Somewhere between 100,000 and one million raccoons are estimated to live in Germany, making them prime targets for hunters. Some 20,000 were shot during the last season, according to official statistics. But unfortunately for the denizens of a growing number of European capitals, they like cities.

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Skybird

They are considered a pest [...] But the situation is out of control, the species spreads beyond control. Several amphibous and bird species are brought to the brinks of being highly endangered, due to racoons eating their eggs and younglings. They even plunder nests that are high and isolated - that of of falcons and sea eagles.
Strangely unfortunately way too successful in opportunism as a survival strategy. And they have no natural enemies [...].

Ah racoons. I thought you were speaking about humans.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Catfish

Ah racoons. I thought you were speaking about humans.

... well yer half right; raccoons do wash their hands before dining They particularly infest man-made Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay where I spent all of 2010's nights guarding 3 real helicopters on a rat-infested movie-set 1930's Pan Am Clipper hanger/runway. The Raccoon Strait 'twixt Angel Island and the Marin Peninsula at the Golden Gate however isn't named for the little critters; that was named for the Cormorant-class Brit sloop, HMS Racoon, which was repaired there in 1814.

[Skybird]

You have been promoted from "Nemesis of the Rats" to "Holy Haunter of the Wicked Racoon". Congratulations! If you continue your good work they will send you to excellence training classes of Fox Fangs and Claws Fighting School in Miramar where you will learn to pick away at the pests like a Maverick.

[Aktungbby]

Will honors never cease! as nuthin' ever goes outta style to an ol' blackpowder shooter They routinely patrol my street in Napa all night long lookin fer nibbles.... i belive Onkel Neal has a similar influx along with his feral hog problems as well.