Topical

After 2001 there have been some twenty sightings, and several dutch dailies have reported on the "invasion" of the dog, "de Telegraaf" of 31 december 2003 among them. As soon as there's a sighting with photo, I'll let it be known.
Here you can still find the reports on the dogs that got killed by cars and a machine for harvesting beets. Let's proceed with happier news:

The 2004 Litter

Tuesday 13 april 2004 I went on an evening walk with Troy and Misty, which she completed happy enough. That night 5 white and 2 wildcolored pups were born without anyone hearing anything. The photo was taken next morning. Misty used the occasion to stretch her legs a bit, allowing me a clear view of Max and the pups.
Max allows me near the nest, and doesn't signal the pups to keep quiet, as was the case with previous litters. All let themselves be heard.

On the left Misty. Max ofter lies as if he's the one feeding the pups.

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10-12 dagen later ...

Like here - it's really Max :). The pups did have no trouble living through a couple of freezing cold nights On may the 13th they've been chipped. Both wildcolored ones are gents, the white ones are all ladies! On these photo's they're 10-12 days old. Troy, Misty's stepfaather, is totally accepted by all except Max. Max is more reluctant in his acceptance :(

Uncle Troy comes over!

Where am I and why does this naked dog smell so funny?

Out in the sun for the first time!

Practising for T-Rex!

Investigating.

Hello Max!

You can order a dog from after a talk about what to expect of it. On 15 may there were still four white females available.

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Raccoon dogs in Twente and Drente!

Two cases already

christian freeling

Twente and Drente are adjacent regions in the east of the Netherlands. Besides the raccoon dog that was found beside the R36 in september, two more were found in mid-october, south of Emmen, near the german border. The television channel SBS6 aired a report that I missed. A friend brought it to my attention, saying there was a suggestion that it might have been escaped animals. So I called SBS6 and explained the situation concerning the raccoon dog in the Netherlands. They gave me the telephone number of the forrester who was called to the scene. He gave me this account.
One dog had met its end in a machine for harvesting beets, the other was found the next day at some fifty yards, beside the road, presumably looking for the first one and hit by a car. Both were well fed and thick, as is usual for raccoon dogs in the autumn, when they accumulate both fat and fur. The forrester didn't doubt it were wild specimens, especially as I explained the situation in Germany. In fact he had lately had a number of sightings that were inconclusive at the time, but may in retrospect well have been raccoon dogs.
From these events it would seem clear that the raccoon dog has already successfully invaded the Netherlands.

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The following report, including photo, was sent to me by Jan ter Braak of the policestation of Vriezenveen, in connection with an article in the Twentsche Courant Tubantia of saturday 29 september 2001.

Raccoon dog dead on the R36 On wednesday 26 september 2001 at about 08.00, Hugo Koopman from Vroomshoop found a dead animal on the RW 36 between Vriezenveen and Wierden. The animal was still warm and had obviously been hit by a car shortly before. Hugo had stopped to lay the animal beside the road. He had no idea what kind of animal it was, so he decided to call gamekeeper Betrus Kobes from Vriezenveen, who has collected the animal and taken it to his house. There he tried to determine the species, having no clue either. After consulting several books he finally found a picture of a raccoon dog in the chapter "wild dogs" in an Encyclopedia of the animal kingdom. Bingo. According to experts the raccoon dog is the most primitive of the wild dogs that exist today, and nearest to the original "dawn dog" of the plains of Northern America. The female found in Twente will be prepared and handed to a community school for educational purposes.

In Germany some several thousands of raccoon dogs are killed by hunters on a yearly basis, and this constitutes only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. In the Netherlands numbers probably raise in the hundreds, and since the numbers in Germany, despite a free hunt, keep increasing, it's safe to assume that the dog has permanently settled itself in the Dutch woods, next to his far relative the fox.
It is unlikely that the female was alone. If she wasn't, then she probably will have had a litter. Young raccoon dogs learn to care for themselves very fast, so there's a good chance of a pack of some five to ten dogs in the vicinity of Vriezenveen, the Netherlands.