The cute creature Sweden wants to wipe out [View all]
Source: BBC
The cute creature Sweden wants to wipe out
By Keith Moore
BBC News, Sweden
7 May 2016 Magazine
They look cute and cuddly and are sometimes kept as pets - but raccoon dogs are a menace, threatening wildlife across Europe. Sweden is so worried about their impact that it has trained a team to hunt and kill the animals, with the unwitting help of creatures made to betray their mates.
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The animal they are looking for is a raccoon dog, a fox-like creature native to East Asia that has a similar face to a raccoon but is a member of the canine family.
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Per-Arne Ahlen who leads Sweden's project to eradicate raccoon dogs, is with them too. He says the animals were first released in the European parts of the former Soviet Union by biologists as a source of fur.
"Economic success 80 years ago, today an ecological disaster," he says.
An ecological disaster, he explains, because raccoon dogs feed on amphibians and ground-nesting birds in wetland areas.
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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36228601
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