During a stroll through the local forest, the walker meets a lonely little raccoon.

The cub seems helpless so alone.

What to do?

Take the little robber with you and hand it in at a veterinary clinic or at the nearest veterinarian?

Don't do it - at least that's the message from the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Giessen.

Because this path means a dead end for the animal.

And that has to do with European law.

Thorsten Winter

Business editor and internet coordinator in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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The animals are originally from North America.

In April, two couples were abandoned at the Edersee.

According to tradition, this went back to a request by the poultry farmer Rolf Haag.

Their species spread quickly - due to the plentiful supply of food and the lack of natural enemies.

Especially since raccoons escaped from fur farms elsewhere in Europe.

Watch bears are widespread in many places in Germany, including in Hesse.

Specimens that have been driven dead are evidence of this.

Imprisonment after castration or sterilization

However, widespread does not mean domestic, as the Giessen experts emphasize.

"They are legally subject to the EU regulation on invasive animal species, according to which such animals pose a threat to parts of the local wildlife," they explain.

As a result, a return to nature is impossible for raccoons.

They may only be kept in captivity after castration or spaying, and then only in facilities with a special permit for raccoon keeping.

This in turn poses considerable challenges not only to the university veterinary medicine in Gießen, which can hardly accommodate any more wild animals: other facilities authorized to keep them are overcrowded.

In addition, animal lovers would have to consider something else.

According to the university, raccoons are subject to hunting law.

Anyone who takes a raccoon with them, even with the best of intentions, must report this immediately to the responsible hunting tenant and the local police.

In cases of doubt, it is also helpful to go there first instead of taking the animal with you too hastily.

The department also points out that raccoons can be carriers of pathogens that can also be dangerous for humans.

According to a study from April, researchers have detected the West Nile virus in watch bears and raccoon dogs.

In one percent of human cases, the infection it causes can affect the nervous system and then be fatal.

All in all, the researchers found 22 different species of parasites in the animals wearing the Zorro mask.

Raccoons also eat Red List species such as yellow-bellied toad and common toad.