Carolin Unger is a resolute woman.
She doesn't often complain.
When she encounters a problem, she tries to solve it before calling for help.
When she is woken up by strange noises at night on the rural estate where she lives with her family north of Frankfurt, she grabs a flashlight to investigate.
On the search for the source, Unger quickly finds it: They come down from an outbuilding.
The woman uses a ladder to climb up to the hatch that gives access to the attic.
When she opens them, a pair of eyes sparkle at her, accompanied by bared teeth and a menacing hiss and growl.
Startled, Unger retreats, almost falls off the ladder and slams the flap shut again.
In daylight it turns out
that a family of raccoons - a female with her four cubs - has taken up residence in the attic.
The straw stored there is full of faeces and it stinks of urine.
To get in, the climbing artists with the mask-like fur around their eyes and the skilled front paws have moved a few roof tiles, which now offer a target for the storm.
The interior insulation is tattered.
The nocturnal predators are not that easy to catch or drive away.
The squat is now in its third year.
Carolin Unger's hands are tied when it comes to dealing with the pests.
They may only be killed by hunters who have the appropriate hunting license.
To get in, the climbing artists with the mask-like fur around their eyes and the skilled front paws have moved a few roof tiles, which now offer a target for the storm.
The interior insulation is tattered.
The nocturnal predators are not that easy to catch or drive away.
The squat is now in its third year.
Carolin Unger's hands are tied when it comes to dealing with the pests.
They may only be killed by hunters who have the appropriate hunting license.
To get in, the climbing artists with the mask-like fur around their eyes and the skilled front paws have moved a few roof tiles, which now offer a target for the storm.
The interior insulation is tattered.
The nocturnal predators are not that easy to catch or drive away.
The squat is now in its third year.
Carolin Unger's hands are tied when it comes to dealing with the pests.
They may only be killed by hunters who have the appropriate hunting license.
The squat is now in its third year.
Carolin Unger's hands are tied when it comes to dealing with the pests.
They may only be killed by hunters who have the appropriate hunting license.
The squat is now in its third year.
Carolin Unger's hands are tied when it comes to dealing with the pests.
They may only be killed by hunters who have the appropriate hunting license.
Andrea Volkmann lives in the city.
When she sees a raccoon in her garden at dusk, the animal lover is enthusiastic about the "cute fellow" and names him Paulchen.
But he not only eats the food laid out for him, but also that for the birds.
That annoys Volkmann, which is also reflected in the changed name.
From now on the raccoon is called Paul.
Ever since he entered the apartment through the cat flap and devastated entire rooms there in search of something to eat, people only talk about the "dirty creature".
Raccoons are extremely adaptable omnivores.
They are spreading rapidly in Germany.
A female can give birth to up to three litters with a maximum of five young each year.
This inevitably leads to conflicts with people, since the animals also feel at home in cities.
Kassel is a stronghold.
There is one raccoon per hectare.
This is the highest population density in Germany at all.
The robber is now spreading south from northern Hesse, reports Tim Stöveken, who has been looking after a small game area in the Wetterau for more than 25 years.
Hunting raccoons: a complicated story
In 1954, the raccoon imported from North America was included in the Hessian hunting law as "huntable" to protect the native species.
In the 1970s, the number killed exceeded the thousand mark for the first time.
According to official statistics, hunters hunt down 28,000 to 30,000 animals nationwide every year, around 3,000 of them in the Wetteraukreis.
About 75 percent are shot in the wild, the rest are first caught in live traps and then killed with a catch shot, as Stöveken says.
Captured raccoons must not be released elsewhere.
If they are not to be killed, they must be castrated and permanently housed in an approved facility so that they cannot escape.
For Stöveken, the raccoon is an animal like any other.
Species protection is about keeping the population in check.
The immigrant, who is decimating native prey species at breakneck speed, has no natural predators in this country.
Amphibians and ground-nesting birds are particularly at risk.
When the number of lapwings in the Wetterau dwindled, ornithologists fenced off a relatively small area in the Bingen Ried to keep predators such as raccoons and foxes away from the nests.
The ornithologists were surprised by the success of this simple measure.
The kibitzers are doing better again.
Other ground breeders also found themselves in the protected area.