Rampaging raccoons: how the American mammals took over a German city – and are heading across Europe

Many in Kassel have embraced the animal but the EU classes it as an invasive species and ecologists are divided about what to do next

In Kassel, everyone has a story about raccoons. Some struggle with a family of them that moved into their roof and simply will not leave. Others recount how a picnic in the park turned into an ambush as gangs of the black and white animals, known in Germany as Waschbaren, raided the food. Almost everyone seems to have a neighbour who feeds them, to the annoyance of the entire street.

We are the raccoon city. They are everywhere," says Lars, a Kassel resident, as he tends his allotment by Karlsaue park in the fading light.