A racoon on a cold tile roof

In 1956, they were a few hundred, by 2005 they numbered in the six figures in Germany, according to Wikipedia.

If you live in an area in the US where racoons thrive, this steep increase will not surprise you. Germans mostly knew racoons from animated shorts courtesy of Disney and other US studios plus assorted westerns.

While the German racoon population distribution still indicates the two places the imports escaped from, they have been spreading. Not only indigenous wildlife has felt their effect but also building standards.

Pipes taking rain water down from the roofs are increasingly being retrofitted with anti-raoon contraptions, doors and windows, too.

We have not personally seen any around here, but we do have an advantage over the neighbors.
One night back in the US, responding to a ruckus in the yard with corresponding worries about the outside cats, a brave K-landnews man went out and saw a racoon come over the board fence.

The animal was not afraid, they never really are. It put one hind leg on the clothing line right next to the fence, leaving the other leg on top of the fence. Then it rose up, and the wide-legged stance of the animal with the bandit mask gave it the appearance of a child-sized cowboy itching for a fight.

Newsman took the long handled broom next to the door and approached the adversary, brush forward.

The racoon did not budge. Newsman advanced the brush over the clothesline and gently lowered it so it rested on the line, about a foot from the bandit's hind legs.

The animal's light movement of its front legs looked like an invitation to a round of boxing, although the movement likely was only for maintaining equilibrium.

A quick pull of the broom on the clothesline sent the racoon into a reverse sommersault over the six foot board fence back into the neighbor's yard. A thud announced it had landed.

Less than a minute later two eyes peeked over the fence, held newsman's gaze for few seconds, then disappeared for good.

When someone here voices concern over racoons, we have the ultimate climbdown ready: at least you don't have huge, hungry Burmese pythons waiting for that snake Happy Meal you call a cat.

Here is a photo of a racoon in central Germany. (c) 2007 CCL Carsten Volkwein. 

This one is an urban American family photo, (c) 2010 k-landnews.