Hesse wants to expand raccoon hunting: criticism grows

The Hessian State Court in Wiesbaden recently considered a lawsuit brought by the FDP parliamentary group, directed against the state hunting regulation that came into force in 2016.

The parliamentary group criticises, among other things, the closed season for raccoons in Hesse, which runs from 1 March to 31 July each year, during which no raccoon hunting takes place.

Closed season to be abolished

Environment Minister Priska Hinz has now announced that raccoons are to be hunted year-round in future. A final decision is expected on 12 February 2020. PETA criticises the capitulation to the hunting lobby and emphasises that hunting is not an appropriate means of regulating wildlife populations, but in fact achieves the opposite. Abolishing the closed season during the rearing period would cause many thousands of baby raccoons to starve miserably in their nests each spring. The animal rights organisation views this as a violation of the Animal Welfare Act and strongly urges the Environment Minister to ban raccoon hunting entirely.

«It is unacceptable to suspend the closed season during the rearing period simply so that the FDP’s hobby hunters can indulge their bloodlust. Studies show that raccoons do not cause problems for endangered species — rather, they are scapegoated by hobby hunters and certain politicians for a misguided agricultural and forestry policy.»

Nadja Michler, wildlife policy officer at PETA.

The animal rights organisation points out that leading raccoon experts have found that the animals respond to hobby hunting respond. In hunted populations, the proportion of reproducing females is higher than in non-hunted populations: the more raccoons are killed, the more young are born. This means that hunting losses within the population are quickly compensated for — or even overcompensated.

Wildlife biologist and raccoon expert Dr. Ulf Hohmann also calls for a rethink:

«I don’t know a single scientist or hunting expert who genuinely believes that hunting can bring these animals under control. We simply have to accept that the raccoon feels at home here and that we cannot regulate it. In that sense, we need to find a way to coexist with it.»

Dr. Ulf Hohmann

Long-term research findings from leading raccoon experts indicate that the raccoon does not pose a significant threat to nature and biodiversity. The animals generally feed primarily on easy prey such as earthworms, insects, and fruit. It is humans who bear primary responsibility for population declines in affected species, such as the European pond turtle. Habitat loss due to river straightening and the deadly danger posed by road traffic have driven these reptiles to the brink of extinction.

Raccoon hunting unnecessary from a wildlife biology perspective

Recognised wildlife biologists agree that there is no ecological justification for raccoon hunting. According to the renowned biologist Prof. Dr. Josef Reichholf, the near-exterminated wolves do not need to be replaced by human hobby hunters, as natural regulation of forest-dwelling animal populations is already provided by environmental factors such as weather, food availability, and disease.

The Geneva model as a blueprint

The Canton of Geneva, where recreational hunting has been banned for over 45 years, is just one example of this. Here, nature largely regulates itself. The result: high biodiversity and healthy, stable wildlife populations.

Biologist Dr. Karl-Heinz Loske regards hunting as nothing more than a superfluous hobby that serves to satisfy the hunting urge of recreational hunters. When he obtained a hunting licence in his younger years, it quickly became clear to him that this had little to do with nature conservation or species protection. Today, Dr. Loske is a recognised expert in landscape ecology, for whom hunting is indefensible from neither an ecological nor a moral standpoint.