The history of the Racoon or Procyon Lotor in the Netherlands

According to the Dutch website waarneming.nl, an online database for animal sightings in the Netherlands, the first proof of racoons, who are native to North America, existing in the Netherlands, were tracks found by one of the contributors of the website in 1994. The tracks were found near the village of Herkenbosch only 3 kilometres from the German border. This rural village’s economics is mainly dependant on the cultivation of asparagus, a branch of agriculture that is highly labour-intensive and therefore nowadays the harvesting is mainly carried out by Polish immigrants. The second sighting was 14 kilometres from the German border in the municipality Margraten which is internationally know for its Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial, a cemetery where 8302 American soldiers from the Second World War are buried who died in the Battle of Bulge, the last great offensive by the Nazi army. The third sighting was a racoon killed by traffic in 1996, which was spotted 0,36 kilometres from the German border in the region of Boukoul were the castle Hillenraad is situated. In this castle crown prince Wilhelm was interned by the Dutch government when he fled from Germany after the Great War in 1918 to later try and reinstall himself as emperor of Germany under the Nazi government. After the third sighting the Racoon stayed under the radar until 2005, from that moment on the animal is sighted regularly in the border regions of the Netherlands close to Germany.

From the first sighting onward attempts have been made to capture the invasive exotic to prevent the specie’s numbers to grow in Dutch territory. The AAP foundation is one of the leading organisations in capturing the animals. The foundation claims to be a specialised rescue centre and sanctuary for primates and other exotic animals including racoons. The racoons that have been captured by the AAP foundation go to their Rescue Centre in Almere where they will spend the rest of their lives in captivity.

At the AAP foundation they claim that the racoons were released by Nazi Rudolph Hess in 1939, because he wanted to hunt on them on his estate. Hess, Hitlers second man, was captured by the British in 1941 when he flew to the United Kingdom in a Messerschmitt plane and parachuted in Scotland. Here he was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London by the MI5, although he claimed to have official papers for a peace treaty with the United Kingdom signed by the Führer. After the war Hess was found guilty of crimes against peace as well as conspiracy with German leaders under the Nazi regime, at the Nuremberg Trials. He spent the rest of his life in captivity as prisoner number 7 at Spandau Prison in Berlin. Here he lived in a beautiful garden that included paths, rock gardens and flower displays designed by Nazi Architect, Albert Speer who was one of the other inmates of the prison. Hess died in 1987 when he was 93 years old.

The second Nazi who is nowadays blamed for the release of the racoons was Hermann Göring. He was Minister of Prussia when a poultry farmer Rolf Haag from the Edersee Reservoir in region of Hesse suggested releasing his pet racoons to enrich the wildlife in the area. Göring, who was also Reichs Master of the Forest and Hunt, approved the plan and also reinforced other laws to protect and enrich nature and wildlife in Nazi Germany. Even today most of Germanys environmental and animal-protection laws are based on these creations by Göring. The 4 racoons released by Haag are now known as the Hessian population and are marked by carrying a roundworm called Baylisascaris Procyonis which is deadly to humans. The Hessian population are the racoons crossing the Dutch border. Göring was such a nature lover that he had a hunting castle build which he called Karinhall, after his first wife. This castle situated in the north of Brandenburg above Berlin was the location were Göring placed most of the plundered artworks he obtained during his career and organised great hunting parties. In the same area in a village called Wolfshagen, a fur farm was bombed by allied bomber in 1945 releasing 25 racoons who are now known as the Branderburger population and have spread through most of Germany and eastern Europe.