Raccoon roundworm and Baylisascariasis – only 50 cases worldwide

Fear-mongering by recreational hunters

Hobby hunters and politicians as well as hunting and wildlife authorities fear that with so many raccoons the transmission of the raccoon roundworm Baylisascaris procyonis.

It has long been scientifically proven that raccoon hunting, like fox hunting, stimulates reproduction while also destroying age structures and social structures. The attempt to reduce raccoon populations through hunting is by now considered in Germany as hopeless and a spectacular failure.

“I don’t know a single scientist or hunting expert who seriously 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.”

Dr. Ulf Hohmann, wildlife biologist and raccoon expert

Only 50 clinical cases worldwide

According to the CDC, fewer than 25 clinical infections with Baylisascaris procyonis were recorded in the USA up to 2018, this with at least 5 to 10 million raccoons and 330 million inhabitants.

A more recent article from 2021 shows that by 2021 only 50 clinical cases of Baylisascariasis had been registered worldwide.

Infection often undetected and not dangerous

In a study, 317 employees of wildlife rescue centres in the USA and Canada were examined between 2012 and 2015 who frequently had contact with raccoons. These individuals showed no symptoms of a worm infection.

The quintessence is that an infection with the raccoon roundworm Baylisascaris procyonis often goes undetected and is not dangerous and does not prove fatal, contrary to what is frequently claimed and currently being disseminated everywhere by hunting associations and the media.

The great uproar over the raccoon roundworm is highly exaggerated given the so few cases worldwide.

• Keeping raccoons away in an animal-friendly manner
• Raccoons too have a right to life
• Dealing with “invasive” species – a critical analysis from a biological and legal perspective
• Neozoa
• Basel wants to kill raccoons
• Raccoons are not a danger
• Open letter to Katrin Schneeberger of the FOEN
• Removal of the raccoon from the lists of so-called invasive species
• Facts instead of hunters’ tall tales about raccoons
• The Office for Hunting and Nonsense in the Canton of Aargau wants to shoot raccoons

Interest Group Wild beim Wild

The IG Wild beim Wild is a non-profit interest group committed to the sustainable and non-violent improvement of the human-animal relationship, with the IG also specialising in the legal aspects of wildlife protection. One of our main concerns is to introduce a contemporary and serious wildlife management system in the cultural landscape, modeled on the Canton of Geneva – without hobby hunters but with upright game wardens who truly deserve the title and act in accordance with a code of honour. The monopoly on the use of force belongs in the hands of the state. The IG supports scientific methods of immunocontraception for wildlife.