Marderhund Schleswig-Holstein

The raccoon dog prefers water-rich, structurally diverse landscapes and inhabits damp deciduous and mixed forests, riparian woodland, marshes, reed belts and wet meadows. It is highly adaptable and also exploits agricultural cultural landscapes as long as cover and water are available. The species is markedly secretive and crepuscular to nocturnal, and during cold, food-poor winters it enters a period of dormancy with greatly reduced activity, for which it builds up substantial fat reserves in autumn.

The arrival of the raccoon dog in Europe goes back to deliberate releases in the European part of the former Soviet Union between the late 1920s and the middle of the twentieth century, carried out to enrich the fur fauna. Around nine to ten thousand animals were released, mainly in Ukraine, Belarus and European Russia, from where the species expanded on its own across Poland and the Baltic into Central Europe. In Germany, the first raccoon dog was shot in 1962. Today the species is present nationwide and has been listed since 2019 on the EU list of invasive alien species of Union concern. As an opportunistic omnivore it can have a negative impact on isolated remnant populations of ground-nesting birds, amphibians and small game, and it competes ecologically with the red fox and the European badger.

In the DACH region the raccoon dog is hunted as part of conventional predator management. Stand hunting at baited sites, carrion places and wild boar bait stations is well established, since raccoon dogs readily exploit the remains other species leave behind. Den hunting is carried out with small, trained earth dogs, because raccoon dogs frequently share fox and badger setts or dig their own earths. Trapping with approved live-capture and quick-kill traps such as concrete-pipe traps or box traps is considered particularly effective given the species' secretive, nocturnal habits. From a disease-hygiene perspective the raccoon dog is relevant because it can act as a host for zoonoses such as the fox tapeworm (Echinococcus multilocularis) and Trichinella, and is susceptible to rabies, canine distemper and sarcoptic mange; protective gloves and careful hygiene during gralloching and handling at the bag are therefore essential.