De wasbeer Procyon lotor in Vlaanderen

We have been receiving reports of raccoons in Flanders since the launch of the Marternetwerk in 1998. In the meantime, the Walloon region south of the Sambre-Meuse line from the French and German border regions has seamlessly ‘filled up’ with raccoons, so to speak. Based on all observations, we can assume that population development is already at an advanced stage throughout Flanders as well.
The situation in this report can serve as a reference state with regard to future developments. The question of whether and, if so, how raccoons should be systematically controlled (any longer or again) in Western Europe is the subject of current international discussions. Apart from that, intervention in specific situations may be desirable to locally and temporarily help mitigate or avoid an acute conservation problem.