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« on: October 05, 2008, 08:12:52 pm »
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Raccoon-range.pngNotice the Raccoon populations in Germany and Japan. Is it not suspicious that both those countries were our enemies in World War II, and now they have gone out of their way to obtain and maintain raccoon populations? According to Wikipedia, Germany was trying to develop raccoon technology even before the war. And what of these Caucus raccoons? Obviously the Azeris obtained raccoons in order to use them against the Armenians, but it it not strange that the Russians are now trying to invade Georgia, a strategic Caucus Raccoon location? Russia's tensions with Belarus? These wars aren't about territory or ethnicity! They're about obtaining raccoons! I think it's pretty clear that raccoons are an even bigger threat than nuclear weapons. We can only pray that Iran or North Korea don't obtain raccoon technology. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Raccoon_%28Procyon_lotor%29_2.jpgDistribution outside North America
As a result of escapes and deliberate introductions in the mid-20th century, the raccoon is now distributed in several European and Asian countries. Sightings have occurred in all bordering countries of Germany, which hosts the largest population outside of North America.[127] Another stable population exists in the north of France where several pet raccoons were released by members of the U.S. Air Force near the Laon-Couvron Air Base in 1966.[128] 1243 animals were released in nine regions of the former Soviet Union between 1936 and 1958 with the intent of later hunting them for their fur. Two of these series of introduction were successful: the one in the south of Belarus between 1954 and 1958 and especially the one in Azerbaijan between 1941 and 1957. With an annual harvest of between 1,000 and 1,500 animals, it was estimated in 1974 that the size of the population distributed in the Caucasus region was around 20,000 animals and the density was four animals per km².[129] In Japan, up to 1,500 raccoons were imported as pets each year after the success of the anime series Rascal the Raccoon (1977). In 2004, the descendants of discarded or escaped animals lived in 42 of 47 prefectures.[130][131][132]
Distribution in Germany
On April 12, 1934, two pairs of raccoons were released into the German nature at the Edersee in the north of Hesse by forest superintendent Wilhelm Freiherr Sittich von Berlepsch upon request of their owner, the poultry farmer Rolf Haag.[133] He released them two weeks before receiving permission from the Prussian hunting office to “enrich the faunaâ€, as Haag's request stated.[134] Several prior attempts to introduce raccoons in Germany were not successful.[135] A second population originated in East Germany in 1945 when 25 raccoons escaped from a fur farm at Wolfshagen to the east of Berlin after an air strike. The two populations are parasitologically distinguishable: 70% of the raccoons of the Hessian population are infected with the roundworm Baylisascaris procyonis, but none of the Brandenburgian population.[136] The estimated number of raccoons was 285 animals in 1956 and over 20,000 animals in 1970 in the Hessian region and between 200,000 and 400,000 animals in 2008 in the whole of Germany.[137][107]
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ROLL TIDE WHAT? **** YOU!!! Geaux Tiga
~The Gaurdians of ZFGC~ Kirby, metallica48423, Max, Vash, walnut100
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