In Kassel, everyone has a story about raccoons. Some struggle with a family of them that moved into their roof and simply will not leave. Others recount how a picnic in the park turned into an ambush as gangs of the black and white animals, known in Germany as Waschbären, raided the food. Almost everyone seems to have a neighbour who feeds them, to the annoyance of the entire street. “We are the raccoon city. They are everywhere,” says Lars, a Kassel resident, as he tends his allotment by Karlsaue park in the fading light. “When it’s a bit darker,...