Raccoon dog – Nyctereutes procyonoides

The raccoon dog is native to Southeast Asia. It was originally introduced to Finland as a fur animal for farms, but the current natural population originates from individuals that wandered into Finland across the eastern border from the former Soviet Union. From 1929 to 1955, approximately 9,100 individuals of the subspecies N. p. ussurensis were introduced to districts in Russia on the European side. The species has since spread quickly to many European countries. The first individual wandering raccoon dogs were detected in Finland in the 1930s and 1940s, but their actual spread began in the 1950s. By the mid-1970s, raccoon dogs had spread to almost all parts of southern and central Finland. The population remained stable for 10 to 15 years and began to grow again. At present, the raccoon dog is the most common medium-sized predatory mammal across the country, except in northernmost Lapland.